As a new mum, Caitlin Valvoi doesn't neccessarily get uninterrupted sleep, but she will sleep a bit more soundly now, safe in the knowledge she has working smoke alarms to alert her to danger overnight.
Caitlin, who is mother to eight-month-old Ellanor, says she was delighted to hear Plunket were organising for her to have a home safety check by the Stratford Volunteer Fire Brigade.
"I did think I was okay, that three alarms was enough, but now I know it isn't and it is great to have a new one installed by the fire brigade, keeping us safer."
Volunteer firefighters Steve Bennett and Brent Rawlinson visited Caitlin last week and installed a new alarm in her hallway.
As part of the Plunket scheme, Caitlin received the new smoke alarm as well as advice on placement of the ones she already had in the house.
"This alarm has a battery life of 10 years," says Brent. "So you know you are covered for a long time."
Nationally, the fire service attend more than 3500 house fires every year. Statistics show that in 80 per cent of the fatal fires they attend smoke alarms are either not installed or not working.
Nine years ago, says Steve, the Taranaki Electricity Trust (TET) funded a project which had smoke alarms placed in houses throughout the town.
"When we are visiting houses now, we often see empty brackets where those alarms where, people have taken them out because they were beeping, they haven't replaced the batteries."
The manufacturer's recommendation is that smoke alarms have a 10 year life span, so Steve says it is a good time to replace the alarms from the TET over the next few months as they are reaching the 10 year life span. It is vital, he adds, to make sure they are replaced, and not simply removed and forgotten about.
"Smoke alarms save lives, there is no question about that."
Brent says the fire service recommend using the long life smoke alarms as they don't need regular battery replacement.
"When people are purchasing alarms they should ensure they are purchasing long life alarms as while the old type alarm packaging has 10 years warranty on the front cover they are not long life smoke alarms," he says.
"Experience shows us when batteries run out, people forget to replace them, so they end up unprotected."
Looking around Catilin's house, Brent and Steve identified the best places to locate alarms.
"We have advised her to put one in the hallway as well as one in each bedroom. We tend not to place them in the kitchen because cooking activity can set them off, however you can buy special heat detecting alarms designed for the kitchen which won't alert you to your toast spending too long in the toaster, but will alert you to a fire."
A new 360 degree interactive experience has been launched by the New Zealand Fire Service to illustrate to people just how quickly a fire can rage through their own home.
Escape My House uses real footage from an actual house burning down in Palmerston North. No accelerants were used to make the fire spread faster, so the experience shows exactly what can happen in a house fire. The cause of the fire in this case was a clothes horse left too close to a heater - one of the more common ways house fires are started.
Brent says the interactive experience gives users a realistic insight into the speed a fire can spread through a home.
"Smoke alarms are one of the most useful tools we have in helping people get out of their house in time when a fire starts."
Find out more: www.escapemyhouse.co.nz