From staff reports:

On Oct. 23, firefighters with South King Fire and Rescue checked batteries in smoke alarms at the Steel Lake Plaza apartments, located at South 312th Street and 22nd Avenue South in Federal Way. A fire on Oct. 12 displaced six families and forced one woman to jump from a third story window. The residents in the apartment claimed the smoke alarms didn’t sound when the fire broke out. Firefighters checked smoke alarms in 40 residences. Of those, 29 had working alarms. The remaining 11 alarms were not working due to their age or dead batteries. The fire district reminds residents to check their smoke alarms once a month and replace batteries once a year. The entire alarm should be replaced once every 10 years.