New owner and landlord of a single family home that i split into two units with a shared laundry room. My tenant from one of the units this morning called me to let me know the fire alarms were going off. I actually missed the first call but he texted me and then proceeded to call me several times until I answered. He mentioned several times that he was trying to sleep and wanted to know what to do. Obviously I said if there was an actual fire or any smell of gas to leave and call 911 but he said there wasn't, they went off randomly. The upstairs tenants also said they were all asleep at the time they went off. I informed him I wasn't able to get to the house right then and there and that he'd have to try to disable the alarm himself by pressing a button on the smoke detector or taking the batteries out. He said he would but all the alarms were going off and none of them were lighting up to indicate which one was the original source, so he didn't know which one to do. He finally disconnected the one in the laundry room and said the downstairs ones had stopped, but the upstairs ones were still going off. He started to go upstairs to help those tenants disconnect one also but shortly after getting upstairs they all stopped without any further intervention. I told them I will head over as soon as I can to reconnect the smoke detector in the laundry room and change the batteries in them just in case. (hoping they don't all go off again at that time.. yikes). But unless this happens again, I don't really see a reason to inspect every single smoke detector in the house just yet. I said if it does happen again of course I will get an electrician out there to check and have my handyman check all of the batteries in them/see if any of them need to be replaced. I just bought the house less than a year ago and the fire department did a walk through at the time of the purchase of the house and I noticed after that that some of the smoke detectors were new but I can't remember if all of them are definitely new. When I go change the batteries and reconnect the laundry room smoke detector I will also inspect for dust, bugs, and humidity level (I already bought a dehumidifier i'll bring with me and install just in case it was that.) But anyways, any other tips for dealing with smoke detectors? I know they can be a bit tedious but I wasn't sure if I was missing something obvious here and don't want to be neglectful. What should you tell tenants to do in those situations? I was honestly kind of shocked he persistently called me as if there was anything I could do about it immediately. I've been a renter myself in many homes for many years and can never think of a time I called the landlord while the smoke detectors were actively going off. Sure, I probably let them know it happened just in case they needed to be attended to but I usually just pressed buttons on it or took the batteries out until it stopped and let them know afterwards. I was just a little frazzled and didn't know what to say. I have a handyman who can go there with notice but I myself live far away. Thanks for the advice!

Providence, Rhode Island

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