semiatic

Real alarm · First Alert · smoke

First Alert: Three beeps, pause, repeating, red LED flashing, escape light on

Smoke is detected. During an alarm the SM210L sounds 3 beeps, pause, 3 beeps; the red LED flashes rapidly and the escape light is on. (Pressing the test button gives the same pattern once.)

What you see
Three red flashes
What you hear
Full alarm, three beeps then a pause, repeating

Do this first: the maker’s emergency instruction

Smoke alarm

First Alert (SM210L manual): if the alarm sounds, get everyone out of the house immediately — do not stop to dress or collect anything. Feel doors with the back of your hand and do not open a hot one; cover your nose and mouth with a damp cloth; meet at your planned place outside and count heads; call the fire department from outside, giving your address and then your name; never go back inside a burning building.

From User’s Manual — Smoke Alarm, 10-Year Sealed Battery with Escape Light.

The First Alert alarm on these pages senses smoke only. For a carbon monoxide alarm, follow its own maker’s instruction.

What First Alert says to do about this signal

  1. If you are not testing it, First Alert says the alarm is warning you of a potentially dangerous situation and must never be ignored.
  2. For an unwanted alarm (cooking smoke), First Alert says to open a window or fan the smoke away; the alarm resets by itself.

From User’s Manual — Smoke Alarm, 10-Year Sealed Battery with Escape Light and Why Is My Smoke Detector Beeping (Safety Corner). If your alarm’s pattern is not exactly this, check the manual for your model: First Alert models do not all use the same signals.

Other First Alert signals

Real alarm on other brands

The same state sounds and looks different on each make — which is why a chirp pattern cannot be read without the brand.

Sources

Every line on this page comes from First Alert’s own documents, read on the date shown. Nothing is taken from third-party code sites or other makes.