New law requires specific kind of smoke detector in homes

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Two years after a fire killed five people in Barre, a new law aimed at preventing similar tragedies is in place in Vermont.

The law was signed Thursday by Governor Jim Douglas. It requires the installation of photoelectric smoke detectors in new homes. The more commonly used type is called an ionization smoke detector.

Fire officials say that in smoldering fires, smoke fills a building before flames spread. In the 2005 fire that killed four children and a mother in a Barre apartment, a smoldering fire was suspected as the cause since the victims died of smoke inhalation, not burns.

The law phases in the requirement. Starting in 2009, all new homes and any home sold must have photoelectric smoke detectors.

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