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First Alert

Logo: First Alert / BRK Brands, Inc., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

American safety equipment brand

First Alert is the retail brand of American safety equipment manufacturer BRK Brands, Inc., established in 1976 and based in Aurora, Illinois, with a production plant in Juarez, Mexico. Products sold with the brand include carbon monoxide detectors, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and other safety products like flashlights and fire escape ladders. First Alert supports fire safety in partnership with Safe Kids USA and The United States Fire Administration, providing smoke alarms at reduced cost to low-income families in the United States.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1958Founded1

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First Alert is the retail brand of American safety equipment manufacturer BRK Brands, Inc., established in 1976 and based in Aurora, Illinois, with a production plant in Juarez, Mexico. Products sold with the brand include carbon monoxide detectors, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and other safety products like flashlights and fire escape ladders. First Alert supports fire safety in partnership with Safe Kids USA and The United States Fire Administration, providing smoke alarms at reduced cost to low-income families in the United States.2

The story

1958-company created by Burke-Roberts-Kimberline (BRK) Electronics. The three-man team (Burke-Roberts-Kimberline) invented the first battery-powered smoke detector

1964- Began commercial manufacturing of the first battery-powered smoke detector

1967- Pittway began manufacturing the alarms

1974-Sears begins selling the BRK model SS-74R battery powered smoke alarm

1992-Sold to T.H. Lee & Associates

1998-Sold to Sunbeam Corporation

2002-American Household, Inc. is formed from Sunbeam Corporation

2005-Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH) purchases American Household, Inc.

Read the full text

2006-BRK Brands/ First Alert becomes part of Jarden Branded Consumables.

2016-Newell Rubbermaid acquires Jarden, including BRK Brands, forming Newell Brands.

2022-Resideo Technologies acquires First Alert

From Wikipedia’s article on First Alert, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

  • smoke detector

Listed on Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1958Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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