A cold alarm

I sort of remember intermittently hearing a loud chirping sound the other day during the early morning hours. It eventually stopped. When I opened the refrigerator later the same morning to get milk for my cereal, I was surprised to see one of our smoke alarms on a shelf.

My wife had awoken to the chirping (the sound a smoke alarm makes when the battery is on its last leg) and when she couldn't figure out how to open it to remove the battery, decided to put it in the refrigerator so she wouldn't hear the chirp (she was thinking outside the box at 3 AM).

Here are some smoke alarm facts:

* The largest percentage of fire deaths in the home occurs at night while people are asleep. 

* Almost two-thirds of fire deaths from 2005-2009 resulted from fires in the home with no smoke alarms or non-functioning smoke alarms. 

* Homes with working smoke detectors have a 40-50% lower death rate from fires.

* And finally, battery powered smoke alarms only work if the battery isn't dead (now that’s an interesting fact!). 

Manufacturers recommend checking smoke alarms every month. Many recommend changing the batteries twice a year when you change your clocks for daylight savings time.