Not to jump on the soapbox but we had an early morning house fire last November due to a poorly made fireplace. (no, I didn't make it) Everyone made it to safety including our Lab. Safe to say, without working smoke detectors, the outcome would have been drastically different. I slept downstairs in the rec room that night to keep the fireplace fed. We had lost electricity the night before due to a pretty strong storm. 5:15 am, the downstairs detector went off. It was 8 feet from my head and I never heard it. I actually heard the upstairs detector go off. My wife woke up at the same time I did. She yelled down and asked if I was ok. I told here that the house was indeed, on fire. My wife got our 2 children out, the dog followed. It's basic but for those who don't know, smoke actually puts you into a deeper sleep, that's when you "get dead". Ok, I am now off the soapbox.
R. vs W. Good info and reminder! People can't hear this enough. Better to err on the side of caution rather than neglect.