Fire Chief: Most Smoke Alarms Are Useless, Endanger Users  Fire
alarms make you feel safe, but an Albany, Calif. fire chief says
it’s a false sense of security. Speaking to the San Francisco
Chronicle, the chief says most people equip their homes with
cheaper ionization alarms, which detect smoke via an electric
current and can lead to false alarms (such as reacting to
overcooked food) while missing genuine dangers until it’s too
late. The chief says people should opt for slightly more
expensive photoelectric alarms, which use more accurate light
beams to alert fire victims.  According the story, ionization
alarms run about $10 while photoelectric versions cost $15.  The
chief tells the Chronicle:  Ionization alarms are the ones that
go off when you burn your toast, and they can be so annoying
that nearly a quarter of the people who own them turn them off.
But even more important, they go off a lot slower than
photoelectrics, and by the time you hear them it can be too
late. We absolutely have to get rid of t