Apartment Management Company Issues-Fire Alarms

josephine20

Hi,

I live in an apartment with my boyfriend (he owns it) and recently we had an accident involving a box of crisps and a cooker. It resulted in a burnt crisp smelling apartment... The box of crisps were on the cooker and was turned on by mistake by the boyfriend when we went to get a few packets on the way out the door. The accident was totally our fault and that's fine.

But one thing that alarmed me was that the fire alarm did not go off. Now, the apartment was FULL of smoke. I woke up and the room was quite smokey. All the other rooms were much worse so I'm lucky I didn't inhale too much smoke. The fire was controlable and I could stop it.

We sent an email to the management company asking them what the story was with the alarms but they didn't get back to us. It's kind of an issue we'd like resolved as what if the alarms aren't working? Another accident could so easily happen. If I didn't wake up when I did, we could be dealing with things much worse than a cough and smokey apartment.

So basically I'm asking how I should deal with the management company and what obligations they have and have not. You know what alarms are like when you've burnt your dinner! This was a lot worse and there was no sound out of it! It's kinda scary when you think about it. At least I was there to stop it or our two kittens would have had no chance. So anyone got any ideas? Working on finding a mini fire extinguisher too. Do they do them in Woodies?

davros

You are responsible for the smoke alarm inside your own apartment. Check that it is powered and working (there is a push-to-test button). If it's broken or you can't figure out what's wrong with it, replace it.

At that point, I'd pass the story along as a salutary lesson to all your neighbours to check their alarms (especially if you all have the same model). You have inspired me to check mine tomorrow too!

The_Conductor

Yup- the management company's sole responsibility within your apartment relate to structural integrity and by-laws concerning anti-social behaviour/residential-commercial use etc.

Thanks for the reminder though. I need a few new alarms.

Further- a lot of modern apartments use gas heating throughout. Make sure you also have a Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector- it could save your life just as readily as a smoke alarm......

chump

Smokey bacon flavoured?

Victor

I'm not sure what the regulations say, but it might be useful to have the apratment and building systems interconnected.

antoinolachtnai

Many apartment blocks have fire alarms in the apartments which are connected to the central system. This is not always the case. I'm sure it has something to do with the density.

fred funk }{

Normally apartments have internal smoke heads which are powered from the apartment and are the sole responsibility of the apartment owner. There should also be one smoke head in each apartment which is connected to the building fire system which is normally located just inside the front door.

The building system should be serviced twice a year. Check your detectors are working by pressing the test button on the detector and make sure they have battery's.

BarryC

Most apartment blocks have a heat detector (sometimes it can be a smoke detector) and sounder / bell in the lobby of each apartment. These detectors are connected to the fire alarm panel that covers the apartment complex. this would explain why the alarm did not go off. This way it cuts down on the amount of false alarms