Hundreds of thousands of residential alarms across Taiwan will not go off due to lack of electricity and aging.

The picture shows firefighters assisting in installing and testing residential alarms. (Photo by reporter Wu Renjie)

According to statistics from the Fire Department of the Ministry of the Interior, as of June this year, the installation rate of residential fire alarms (residential alarms) across the country has reached a high level. However, an audit report recently released by the Audit Department pointed out that 15% to 20% of the residential alarms have expired (exceeded the three-to-five-year period) or have a service life of more than ten years. This means that the residential alarms of hundreds of thousands of households across Taiwan may "not go off at all" at critical moments due to lack of power or aging parts. Therefore, the Audit Department reminds fire bureaus in various places to strengthen publicity to the public for regular inspections and implement follow-up maintenance work.

The New Taipei City Fire Department stated that according to the application regulations for residential alarms, the applicants are mainly residents in apartments below the fifth floor and apartments without automatic fire alarm equipment. Counties and cities give priority to the elderly living alone, low-income households, people with disabilities, aborigines or residents in remote areas. Most counties and cities stipulate that the same address and the same person are limited to one subsidy.

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The New Taipei City Fire Department also pointed out that after receiving the residential alarm, you must install it yourself within the specified period (within three days), or have firefighting, volunteer firefighting, and fire propaganda volunteers assist in the installation. The locations include key places such as bedrooms, living rooms, corridors, and stairs; kitchens must install fixed-temperature residential alarms. If there are more than five bedrooms on any floor exceeding seven square meters, photoelectric alarms must be installed in the corridors; if there are no corridors, photoelectric alarms must be installed on the stairs.

For daily maintenance and upkeep, you can use the "press, wipe, replace" formula. "Push" means to press it regularly every month to confirm whether the alarm sounds normally; "wipe" means to regularly wipe the dust on the exterior with a rag, and do not touch the internal detection hole to avoid accumulation of dust that may cause false alarms or failure; "replace" means to replace the battery immediately when the indicator light flashes or emits an intermittent "beep" low battery warning. If the alarm has been used for more than ten years, the entire set should be replaced.

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