Residential Fire Alarms

House fires usually happen at night when you and your family are asleep. Fires are fast; they can go from a tiny flame to deadly destruction in as little as three minutes. Smoke detectors can alert you of a fire at night and are a critical piece of early detection to allow for escape from a burning home.  However, if you are not home or have a family member with mobility issues or that is confined to a wheelchair, a residential fire alarm system can alert you or 9-1-1 to a fire in your home when you are not home to be alerted / can call 9-1-1 yourself.  Fires today seem to burn faster and kill quicker, because the contents of modern homes create smoke and toxic fumes. Early detection is the key whether you are home or not, so that 9-1-1 can be alerted to dispatch Fire-Rescue to respond. 

Side-by-Side Residential Fire Alarm Company Comparison (in alphabetical order)

Provider Adobe Blue by ADT Ring  Scout SimpliSafe SmartThings Vivint Xfinity                   Self-monitoring price per month Free Free Free $9.99 $9.90 Free Free $10.00 Price of most basic starter kit $199.00 $199.15 $199.99 $229.00 $229 $245 $599.99 $360 Number of items in most basic starter kit 4 11 5 8 4 4 6 5 DIY or professional installation DIY or professional DIY or professional DIY or professional DIY DIY DIY Professional Professional BBB rating A+ A+ A+ N/A A+ F D+ A

Many Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kits can be installed by you or a family member and include smoke detectors and/or carbon monoxide (CO) detectors.  Depending on the monitoring (self-monitoring versus alarm company monitoring), the system can alert you or the alarm company to call 9-1-1 in the event a detector is activated.  Again, this early detection and notification is important in order to detect the fire in its early stages, particularly is there is someone in your home that cannot easily escape (those with mobility problems and/or those confined to a wheelchair).

Colleton County Fire-Rescue encourages all residents to practice fire safety by installing and maintaining smoke alarms and residential fire sprinklers, practicing fire escape plans, and performing a home safety walk-through to remove fire hazards from the home.

Click here to view information about residential fire sprinklers.

Links to the Residential Fire Alarm Companies in the table above are listed below (note that many require an internet connection at your home).

Adobe - https://goabode.com/
Blue by ADT - https://www.bluebyadt.com/
Ring - https://ring.com/security-system
Scout - https://www.scoutalarm.com/
SimpliSafe - https://simplisafe.com/
SmartThings - https://www.smartthings.com/
Vivint - https://www.vivint.com/ppc/home
Xfinity - https://www.xfinity.com/learn/home-security