A recent news article by UL Standards & Engagement (ULSE) highlights the dangers of disabled smoke alarms and provides some eye-opening statistics on home fires.

On average, a fire department responded to a fire somewhere in the U.S. every 23 seconds in 2023. A home structure fire was reported every 95 seconds, while a home fire death occurred every three hours, and a home fire injury occurred every 52 minutes (source: NFPA). And while the average time available to escape a home fire was 17 minutes 40 years ago, it is now only three minutes due to the increased use of synthetic materials in furnishings and construction supplies, open floor plans, and other factors (source: Fire Safety Research Institute).

To mitigate the hazards of fires, ULSE reports that it has developed and maintained fire safety standards for over 120 years, including UL 217, Standard for Smoke Alarms.

Read more about fire safety and standards via ULSE’s press release.