HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McLoughlin, E Articles by Baker, S P Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by McLoughlin, E Articles by Baker, S P

Smoke detector legislation: its effect on owner-occupied homes.

E McLoughlin, M Marchone, L Hanger, P S German and S P Baker

Montgomery County, Maryland was the first major jurisdiction to pass a law requiring smoke detectors in all homes. Smoke detector coverage in the county was evaluated five years after the law's implementation and compared to the coverage in neighboring Fairfax County, Virginia, which has no such law. Firefighters visited 651 randomly selected owner-occupied homes and tested each detector. While a similar percentage of homes in Montgomery and Fairfax counties complied with detector codes (42 per cent vs 44 per cent, respectively), Montgomery County had a significantly lower percentage of homes with no working detectors (17 per cent vs 30 per cent) and with no detectors at all (6 per cent vs 16 per cent). In general, Montgomery County residents complied with what they believed the law required, but lacked knowledge of the law's details. New homes where building codes required detectors and homes where owners assumed that detectors were required by law were likely to have working detectors. Analyses of 12 years of fire data suggest that as a county approaches complete detector coverage, the risk of residential fire deaths decreases. An essentially unenforced law seems to be obeyed because it conforms to community values.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C Peek-Asa, V Allareddy, J Yang, C Taylor, J Lundell, and C Zwerling When one is not enough: prevalence and characteristics of homes not adequately protected by smoke alarms Inj. Prev., December 1, 2005; 11(6): 364 - 368. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. J Hamilton and J. R. Stott Cycling: the risks Trauma, April 1, 2004; 6(2): 161 - 168. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. R. Istre, M. A. McCoy, L. Osborn, J. J. Barnard, and A. Bolton Deaths and Injuries from House Fires N. Engl. J. Med., June 21, 2001; 344(25): 1911 - 1916. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention Reducing the Number of Deaths and Injuries From Residential Fires Pediatrics, June 1, 2000; 105(6): 1355 - 1357. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				L. Warda, M. Tenenbein, and M. E K Moffatt House fire injury prevention update. Part II. A review of the effectiveness of preventive interventions Inj. Prev., September 1, 1999; 5(3): 217 - 225. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Towner and H. Ward Prevention of injuries to children and young people: the way ahead for the UK Inj. Prev., December 1, 1998; 4(90001): S17 - 25. [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. L Dannenberg and C. J Fowler Evaluation of interventions to prevent injuries: an overview Inj. Prev., June 1, 1998; 4(2): 141 - 147. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. M. Bishai Pediatric Window-Cord Strangulations JAMA, October 8, 1997; 278(14): 1152 - 1152. [Abstract] [PDF]

				F. P. Rivara, D. C. Grossman, and P. Cummings Injury Prevention- Second of Two Parts N. Engl. J. Med., August 28, 1997; 337(9): 613 - 618. [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. McLoughlin and A. McGuire The Causes, Cost, and Prevention of Childhood Burn Injuries Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, June 1, 1990; 144(6): 677 - 683. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Progress Toward Achieving the National 1990 Objectives for Injury Prevention and Control JAMA, April 8, 1988; 259(14): 2069 - 2077. [PDF]