Majority Of Americans Putting Their Home In Danger

More and more Americans don't realize they are putting their family at risk by not checking the battery or productivity of their smoke alarm. Have your fire extinguisher checked, and your smoke alarm it's your first defense against being burned while you sleep.

Check your battery, and don't forget to test it. Press the test button, yes your dogs and kids will go nuts, but that's the best way to see if it works. Purchase a new one if it looks old, they aren't expensive at all and every once in a while fire departments have giveaways.

A survey conducted by Qualtrics on behalf of Kidde, a manufacturer of residential fire safety products, found 67 percent of homeowners had four or fewer smoke alarms in their home, and 12 percent had one alarm.

The average single-family home should have at least five alarms. By the time a smoke alarm is 10 years old, it has a 30 percent chance of not working. Twenty-three percent of American adults said they would replace their home furnace, heater or air conditioning system if they knew it wouldn't work tomorrow, but fewer than 5 percent said they would replace their smoke alarm.

Get carbon monoxide alarm plugged in to the wall with a battery back up if you don't have one. Hold a mock fire alarm so everyone knows the plan to get out of the house.

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