I live in a small (just under 1,000 sq feet) place, and it had four smoke detectors, all hardwired into the the walls or ceilings, depending on where they were located. They also needed batteries replaced periodically. Several years ago one of them went off, shrieking as if the place were on fire, and of course it was the one located about 17 feet up the high wall in the living room and me with no ladder had no way to reach it. The only way to make it stop was the flip the breaker. Then I called the fire department.
They sent out a guy who was able to get high enough to take down the unit entirely, and explained quite nicely that there was probably dust or something that was setting it off and that honestly, I needed to get them all replaced.
I wound up disconnecting them all.
About two years ago my neighborhood association sent out flyers saying the would be installing free smoke detectors with 10 year batteries. All you had to do was let them know you wanted them and they'd put you on the list. We have no HOA but some dedicated volunteers who do nice things like this. So now I have two just under two years old smoke detectors.
We should all have working smoke detectors in hour residence and I'm very glad I have them.
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