Don’t make my mistake: check your smoke alarm

Thirty seconds! Thirty precious seconds! That’s all the time I had last Christmas morning between hearing my smoke alarm and having to get out before my house went up in flames.

I was in the shower. It was 11.20am. I was alone. Everyone was gone to Mass.

I timed it later — 30 seconds. But for the smoke alarm, I’d have been trapped in the bathroom.