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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/home-a-smoke-interconnect

Why does USFA recommend interconnected smoke alarms?

When one sounds, they all sound.

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  1. They never need testing
  2. When one sounds, they all sound ✔
  3. They never need power

Why: A fire far from your bedroom may not wake you. With interconnected alarms, when one alarm detects smoke, every alarm in the house sounds.

Huh, didn't know that: Wireless (radio frequency) alarms can communicate from one to the next without wires.

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Knock, knock. Who's there? Figs. Figs who? Figs the doorbell, it's broken!
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References

Answer: When one sounds, they all sound. A fire far from your bedroom may not wake you. With interconnected alarms, when one alarm detects smoke, every alarm in the house sounds.

  1. US Fire Administration: Smoke Alarms www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/home-fires/prepare-for-fire/smoke-alarms
    Choose interconnected smoke alarms so that when one sounds, they all sound.
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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