Fire bosses at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service have urged residents to routinely check their smoke alarms after a survey revealed how long it takes for British Standard-approved detectors to sound.
An investigation by independent consumer website Which? found that smoke alarms which have met the standard and received the Kitemark certificate have wildly varying response times.
Four controlled fire tests were carried out involving smouldering wood, solvent, plastic and cotton fires on 15 smoke alarms, finding that the Devolo Home Control Smoke Detector failed to sound at all in two of the tests completed.
Glynn Luznyj, director of Prevent and Protect at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "In our experience having working smoke alarms is absolutely crucial to your chances of surviving a house fire. We encourage all residents to have them fitted in all levels of their homes and to test them at least once a week.
"Nationally the fire sector works very closely with the British Standards Institute and we recognise the importance of having smoke alarms that react as quickly as possible with various types of smoke.
"This is why we are very careful in our selection of which manufacturer and model of smoke alarm we purchase and fit in homes. We can reassure residents in Staffordshire that we are confident in our choice of a quality product which responds to a broad range of fire types and has a very low fault rate."
A pattern of British Standard-approved alarms having a significantly varying response time was repeated across all types of tests.
In the tests involving smouldering wood, two approved examples of the Frist alert SA300Q and the El Electronic Ei3500S took more than nine minutes to trigger, while the Nest Protest Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm was more than four minutes quicker to alert.
Which? said that all the alarms tested met the BS EN 14604 standard for response times. However, it also said the safety consequences of a slow reacting fire alarm could be more significant and has called for a new, tougher standard that only rewards models that sound more quickly.
It passed on its findings to Trading Standards and raised its concerns with BSI, formerly the British Standards Institution.
Alex Neill, Which? managing director of homes products and services, said: "People will be surprised to see such a big variation in response times from alarms that are currently classed as being safe and which pass the standard.
"We want to see stricter testing criteria because every minute counts in a fire. Devolo said the detector in question passed test procedures in two certified German laboratories and all its alarms were certified in accordance with EN 12604.
"It said: "These results are a matter of serious concern for Devolo. Safety is the company's number one priority and we meet the highest international standards.
"We are therefore extensively investigating all details of the test in co-operation with our partners."
