On April 1, a new law went into effect that bans the sale of smoke alarms with removeable batteries within New York State. This law passed and was signed in 2015 with the universal support of New York’s fire service. According to the US Fire Administration, as of March 27, New York led the nation in civilian fire deaths for 2019, outpacing the more populous states of California, Texas, and Florida.
Under the new law, the only battery-powered smoke alarms permitted to be sold in New York are those equipped with sealed-in, non-removeable batteries capable of powering the device for at least 10 years. Once installed, these alarms are virtually impossible to disable. They are widely available from a variety of manufacturers, and are reliable, tested, and proven appliances.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, three of every five home fire deaths occur in homes without smoke alarms or working smoke alarms. These are not hollow numbers. A February fire in Watertown, New York, claimed the lives of a father and his two children. According to the local fire chief, all three smoke alarms in the home were missing batteries. In March, a man perished in an early morning fire in a Syracuse home which also lacked working smoke alarms. The Syracuse fire chief stated that six people have died in home fires in the city since January of 2018, and of those, five perished in homes without working smoke alarms.
“The implementation of this legislation will save lives,” said FASNY President Steven E. Klein. “Far too many people are injured or killed in home fires, and too many of these tragedies can be traced back to a lack of working smoke alarms… FASNY calls on all New Yorkers to replace any alarms with removeable batteries with newer models that last for 10 years. Forgetting to replace or change a battery should not result in death.”
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