EL MIRAGE, AZ -- Valley fire departments are seeing an increase in false alarm calls from smoke detectors.
El Mirage Assistant Fire Chief Howard Munding reports that from 7 p.m. Wednesday evening to 7 am Thursday morning, there have been 170 false alarm calls throughout the Valley, 10 of them were in El Mirage.
The problem he explains is because when heaters are turned on for the first time after months they often smell funny and blow out dust. That dust can some times trigger your smoke detector the same way smoke does in a fire.
To reduce the chances of a false alarm, clean your detectors with a vacuum or use a can of air that is often used for computer cleaning to blow away dust from inside the detector.
It is also a good time to test your smoke detector and make sure the batteries are replaced on at least a yearly basis.
