Madison officials continued to discuss a fire safety initiative Wednesday that would order all downtown homes to replace their nine-volt battery smoke alarms with 10-year lithium-battery powered alarms.
The Peter Talen Memorial Ordinance, named in memory of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student who died in a house fire at 123 N. Bedford St. last fall, has been moved to the Landlord Tenant Sub-Committee for further review after it was brought to the Housing Committee Wednesday evening.
Talen was visiting his brother, UW senior Andy Talen, whose apartment had no working smoke detectors.
Madison Fire Department Marshal Ed Ruckriegel, who co-created the ordinance, said 98 percent of Madison residents have smoke alarms, but only 48.5 percent of them are in working order.
“In 2007 alone, there have been seven breakdown fires because of lack of alarms,” Ruckriegel said.
Ruckriegel said he supports the lithium batteries because they are sealed into the detectors. If the battery is pulled out of the detector, it is essentially destroyed. Nine-volt battery alarms are the most tampered with, the most taken out of service and the ones found inoperable the most, he added.
The lithium-battery alarm contains a hush button, so if there is a nuisance alarm for cooking, cigarette smoking or the humidity from a shower, residents can push the button on the alarm, which would remain silent for a few minutes. If the smoke persists, the alarm would resound.
“Instead of taking the alarm down and taking the battery out, they’re still going to be there,” Ruckriegel said.
Under the ordinance, homeowners and landlords would be required to have lithium-battery smoke alarms by August 2009.
Ruckriegel said the new alarms cost homeowners a flat rate of $8.42. Nine-volt batteries, which cost approximately $2, need to be changed twice a year. Fire codes require fire alarms to be replaced every 10 years. In a 10-year period, a nine-volt battery alarm would cost approximately $40, while the proposed lithium-battery alarm would cost less than $9.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who co-sponsored the ordinance, said he is optimistic the proposal will be adopted by City Council early next year.
The ordinance would require all fire alarms to be changed to lithium-battery alarms by Aug. 15, the day off-campus leases start for UW students.
“It doesn’t just affect students living downtown; the main focus is fire safety for (all) downtown residents,” Verveer said.
The ordinance would also require Madison residents to place alarms within six feet of every bedroom in their house so residents of the house would be able to hear the alarm.
Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, a member of the Housing Committee, said he wants to become a co-sponsor of the ordinance.
“Especially after the recent tragedy we’ve had on campus and events that have happened in past, the ordinance comes a long way in saving lives and is definitely worth the city’s time,” Judge said.
