Smoke alarms have been mandatory in all residential buildings since 2006 and for good reason. According to Fire and Rescue NSW, 56% of fatal house fires occurred in houses without a working smoke alarm.

The highest risk of mortality in a house fire occurs when your family is sleeping. Most people don’t realise that they don’t have a sense of smell when they are sleeping.

A smoke alarm is designed to wake you up and give you time to escape. Remember, only working smoke alarms save lives.

Google now offers Nest Protect, a smoke and carbon monoxide detector that can send your phone alerts via the Google Nest App. They are designed to be interlinked and used with Google Assistant and other Google Nest products.

The Nest has multiple sensors that use carbon monoxide and two wavelengths of light to detect smoke from both fast-burning and smouldering fires.

So you’re not running towards danger, the Nest will wake all occupants and tell them where the fire is. If it is a false alarm you can silence the Nest via the device or using your phone.

It is ultra low maintenance, it quietly tests its batteries, sensors, speakers and sirens every month which is inline with Fire and Rescue NSW recommendations.

The Nest meets Australian Standard for smoke alarms AS 3786 and AS/NZS 4268.