Traditional smoke alarms can only do this one thing
Fire safety is a chief concern for homeowners, and smoke detectors take on a critical part in keeping your family safe. However, smoke detectors have some limitations. To illustrate, they will only identify smoke, not extreme temperatures. If there is a fire in your home, you might not be alerted before the smoke reaches the smoke detector. Although there are some other telltale signals of fire -- like a sudden increase in warmth -- if you don’t have smoke, you won’t have a triggered smoke detector.
Additionally, smoke detectors only activate when they detect ample smoke. When a fire begins slowly, you may not be warned until the flames are out of control. Many smoke detectors utilize dual sensors, meaning they will detect smoke from both a raging fire and a more gradual burn. Whenever they sound their alarm, it’s required of the resident to call first responders after exiting the residence.