After All These Years, I Never Thought About Fire Safety Like This Before

We spend a shit ton of money on insurance. Not just me, but you, too. We think nothing of spending $800-1000/year on home insurance. It covers water damage, tree damage and fire.

While we were working on Calvin’s new apartment, the contract told us that per code, we had to have a smoke detector in each bedroom and in each hallway.

Here’s what hit me like a ton of bricks: If Calvin’s apartment caught on fire and his smoke alarm went off, he wouldn’t care one way or the other. And he would probably die.

We ended up buying several 3-pack Nest Protect smoke/CO detectors. It wasn’t cheap (we probably spent around $1200 total).

What did we get for $1200?

1. If one alarm goes off, all smoke alarms go off at once
2. If Calvin’s smoke alarm goes off in the middle of the night, Kristy and I get woken up immediately
3. The Nest Protect devices create a wireless network with each other, so if the wireless goes down due to a fire, they still communicate
4. Each device tests itself 400 times per day

For slightly more than the cost of one year’s insurance, Calvin is safe. This is a screenshot of most of our devices. I can sleep good tonight.

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