After local fire inspectors discovered a problem with a national brand of wireless smoke detectors recently installed in many local apartments, the State College Borough Council voted unanimously last night to extend the deadline for property owners to install replacement detectors in every bedroom of a rental property.

The vote comes after a recommendation, made by a council of government code committee, that the deadline be extended beyond the date previously set. Borough Council voted in September 2005 to create an ordinance that mandated the installation of fire alarms on all floors of apartments, as well as in every bedroom. A compliance deadline was set for April 4, 2006. The deadline has been moved to July 1, 2006.

Shawn Kauffman, fire inspector for the Centre Region Code Administration, said First Alert OneLink wireless smoke and carbon monoxide alarms have batteries that are draining within weeks of installation. The problem was detected during routine inspections of area apartments that had recently installed the new detectors.

"If a person has a BRK brand smoke detector, model SA500 or SCO500, they should contact their property owner," he said.

The faulty alarms are being replaced at the expense of BRK Electronics, the parent company of First Alert. However, no certified wireless product is available to replace the defective alarms. Most property owners are choosing to reinstall smoke detectors that were taken down to install the OneLink alarms, Kauffman said.

Kauffman said the problems with the OneLink alarms are a local issue. State College has the highest rate of installations of the product because property owners were using the technology to comply with the ordinance.

Wireless alarms are characterized by their ability to signal the entire apartment in the case of a fire. For example, a fire in the kitchen would trigger the alarms in every room.

Kauffman said BRK took the detectors off the market in early February.

Once the problem was identified in State College, the Code Administration notified BRK and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which may issue a recall if the problem is not resolved soon.

Local retailers, including The Hite Company, 1245 Benner Pike, pulled the product off their shelves several weeks ago after being informed of the issues by BRK.

BRK Electronics could not be reached by press time.

Elizabeth Goreham, Borough Council member, said she is in favor of extending the deadline and does not view it as a controversial issue.

"We are allowing landlords more time to find an alarm that works well," she said. "It would be terrible if we installed bad ones. ... We don't want to have a terrible fire accident like we had last year. We can't have that."