About this site

This site exists because home fire safety guidance is not hard to find and is very hard to read. It is scattered across code documents written for professionals, campaign pages written in slogans, and shopping guides written to sell something. What is missing in the middle is a plain explanation of what each device does, where it goes, and what to do when it sounds.

Who writes it

One person writes and maintains everything here. There is no newsroom, no panel of experts and no byline, because a name on a page like this would only be there to borrow authority the writing has to earn on its own. The work is editorial rather than professional: reading published guidance carefully, and putting it into ordinary sentences without losing the meaning.

That is also why every page says where its content comes from and links to the bodies that publish the underlying guidance. You are meant to be able to check.

The rules the pages are written to

• Nothing is invented. No figures without a published source behind them, no anecdotes dressed up as evidence, and no testimonials. The lessons page deliberately carries patterns rather than stories for exactly this reason.
• Nothing is sold. No products, no advertising, no affiliate links, no sponsored placement, no brands recommended. The moment a page about which alarm to buy earns money from the answer, the answer stops being worth reading.
• Numbers are stated as ranges when the sources give ranges. Where the guidance is genuinely disputed or varies by state, the page says so instead of picking the tidier answer.
• Your own instruction sheet wins. A general rule about placement or service life never overrides what the manufacturer printed on the device in your hand.
• Local code wins too. Requirements for alarms, particularly in rented housing, are set state by state and city by city.
• Pages carry a review date. If a page has not been looked at in a long time, you can see that at the top.

What this site will not do

• It will not tell you whether your particular building is safe. Nobody can do that from a distance.
• It will not give medical advice. The burn page describes generally accepted first aid, and every version of it ends with going to somebody qualified.
• It will not give legal advice about a tenancy. The renters page describes the common pattern and tells you to check your own state.
• It will not recommend brands or models, or handle a warranty question.
• It will not respond to anything urgent. The contact page says so plainly, because a page that implies otherwise would be dangerous.

Corrections

Errors get fixed rather than argued about. If something here is wrong, out of date, or contradicts current guidance from one of the bodies on the references page, write to [email protected] with the page and the point. Corrections that change the meaning of a page are made in the text, and the review date at the top of the page moves.

What is on the site

Sixteen pages: eleven guides, a page of references, this page, a contact page and a legal notice. The guides are:

• Smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and heat alarms, which are three different devices that people persistently treat as one.
• Fire extinguishers, including the workplace rules, and burn first aid for when something goes wrong anyway.
• Escape planning and escape ladders, teaching children and childproofing, and the version for renters.
• The equipment map, how to buy it including free alarm programmes, and the recurring lessons from published investigations.