Winter Fire Tip: Baby Monitors

One of the most economical and easy to use pieces of fire protection equipment is the smoke detector.

Make sure you have one by your bedrooms, one near the kitchen, one near any media room or room where you have a lot of electronics, one in any family area where you might have a fire place or use other alternative heat sources during the winter, and preferably one in the attic.

The only problem with smoke detectors on the other side of the house is that you might not hear them if you're a deep sleeper or hard of hearing (like your elderly relatives might be).

A simple and economical solution is to get a baby monitor. We got ours at a yard sale for about $3. You put the transmitter near your farthest smoke detector (or the one in the area with the greatest fire danger) and you put the receiver in your bedroom so that if the smoke detector goes off in the middle of the night you're sure to hear it.