A FIRE safety campaigner says lives will continue to be lost until the smoke alarms fitted in most Tasmanian households are replaced with better technology that gives residents more time to get out.
The Tasmania Fire Service estimates 90 per cent of smoke detectors installed around the state are ionisation alarms.
Former firefighter Adrian Butler, from the World Fire Safety Foundation, has been lobbying to have ionisation alarms replaced with photo-electric units, which detect smouldering fires much earlier.
The Australasian Fire Authorities Council and the TFS have also said photo-electric alarms should be used.
The fresh call for Tasmanians to be alerted to the limitations of ionisation smoke alarms precedes the introduction of legislation next week to ensure all rental properties in the state have working smoke alarms.
The fire council said though ionisation alarms detected flaming fires marginally earlier than photo-electric units, the latter picked up smouldering fires and flames in areas away from smoke alarms much earlier.
"Ionisation smoke alarms may not operate in time to alert occupants early enough to escape from smouldering," the council said in 2006.
It recommended all residential accommodation be fitted with photo-electric alarms.
TFS community fire safety director Damien Killalea said the state authority agreed photo-electric alarms were better, but Mr Killalea said there were countless stories of ionisation alarms saving lives.
Mr Butler travelled to Tasmania in 2004 to talk to Sean and Anita Cohen, who lost two of their children and two other children who were sleeping over at their Scotchtown home.
The Cohens joined his campaign soon after the tragedy and have said their ionisation smoke detector "did not make a peep" as smoke filled the house.
Mr Butler said photo-electric alarms reacted to visible smoke while ionisation alarms reacted to sub-micron or invisible particles.
"In the early smouldering stage of a fire, the ionisation alarms often don't make a sound," he said.
"When the smouldering fire eventually bursts into flames the ionisation alarms activate with the sub-micron particles from the flames, however, that is often far too late."
When the photo-electric units came on the market 10 years ago, they were eight times more expensive but that difference has narrowed to a few dollars.
helen.kempton@news.com.au
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