About First Alert
First Alert traces back to 1958, when three friends, Harold Burke, Howard Roberts, and Wayne Kimberline, set out to build a commercial smoke detector. Their venture took the initials B, R, and K, and the resulting company, BRK Brands, Inc., brought its first smoke alarm, the 64TP, to market in 1964. The First Alert name arrived in 1976, and the brand is credited with selling the first battery-powered smoke detector and, in 1993, the first battery-operated carbon monoxide alarm. BRK Brands remains headquartered in Aurora, Illinois, and today makes First Alert one of the most recognized names on a home smoke or CO alarm in the United States.
The brand changed hands twice in recent years: Newell Brands owned it through its 2016 acquisition of Jarden Corporation, and in April 2022 Resideo Technologies completed its purchase of First Alert. The product line we've tested spans hardwired combination smoke and CO alarms, battery-backed standalone units, and hearing-impaired alarms with LED strobes, alongside fire extinguishers, escape ladders, and water leak detectors sold under the same name. Its BRK Quick Connect wired interconnect is a de facto standard in existing hardwired ceiling boxes, which is why so many of the replacement units we've reviewed are designed to drop into a First Alert or BRK harness without rewiring.
Brand website: firstalert.com
What First Alert makes
First Alert's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Hardwired combination smoke & CO alarms
10-year sealed battery backup and BRK Quick Connect interconnect for whole-house replacement (featured on DIYRated) — featured on DIYRated
Battery-backed combination alarms
AA-backup variants of the hardwired combo line for mixed-battery installs (featured on DIYRated) — featured on DIYRated
Hearing-impaired smoke alarms
hardwired units with a high-candela LED strobe for deaf and hard-of-hearing households (featured on DIYRated) — featured on DIYRated
Standalone CO alarms
battery and plug-in carbon monoxide detectors for basements, garages, and rentals
Fire extinguishers
UL-rated home and kitchen fire extinguishers
Escape ladders & water leak detectors
fire escape ladders and WiFi-connected leak sensors
Why we recognized First Alert
The DIYRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. First Alert earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, put to work on real jobs, and judged on merit.
First Alert products we rated highly
First Alert SC9120B Hardwired Combination Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm with 10-Year Battery Backup
In our testing, the included adapter plugs and BRK Quick Connect harness dropped straight into existing First Alert and BRK hardwired ceiling boxes without any rewiring, turning a whole-house replacement into a screwdriver job. The sealed 10-year lithium battery backup ended battery maintenance entirely, no 9V swaps, no 3 a.m. chirps, and a hardwired-primary configuration is what NFPA 2024 home fire data shows performs in 94 percent of house fires versus 85 percent for battery-only units. It carries a 4.5-star rating across 865 reviews.
Read the 7 Best Smoke and CO Detectors of 2026 guide →
First Alert SMICO100-AC Interconnect Hardwire Combination Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm with Battery Backup
This AA-battery-backup variant uses the same Quick Connect harness as the SC9120B, so it drops cleanly into an existing BRK or First Alert hardwired loop for a mixed-install replacement. Swapping to AA backup eliminates the 9V-chirp complaint we hear most about older First Alert installs, and the listing carries a 4.4-star rating across more than 1,600 reviews, among the highest review counts in our roundup.
Read the 7 Best Smoke and CO Detectors of 2026 guide →
First Alert SMICO105-AC Interconnect Hardwire Combination Smoke and CO Alarm with 10-Year Battery Backup (3-Pack)
The 3-pack pairs the same sealed 10-year backup battery as the SC9120B with the BRK Quick Connect harness, so a hardwired home can swap every unit on the loop for one manufactured in the same batch. In our review it earned a 4.5-star rating across 318 reviews, and the sealed battery removes the single most common maintenance complaint we found in owner feedback on combination alarms.
Read the 7 Best Smoke and CO Detectors of 2026 guide →
First Alert BRK 7020BSL Hardwired Hearing Impaired Smoke Detector with LED Strobe Light
A 177-candela LED strobe is the feature that wakes a deaf or hard-of-hearing sleeper that a standard 85 dB horn cannot, and it fires from any alarm on the same BRK/First Alert wired interconnect loop, not just its own unit. It pairs with a plug-in bed-shaker accessory for a belt-and-suspenders wake system, and in our review it held a 4.3-star rating across 286 reviews.
Read the 7 Best Smoke and CO Detectors of 2026 guide →What earned First Alert the recognition
- One of the longest-running names in U.S. home fire safety, tracing to BRK Brands' first smoke alarm in 1964 and the First Alert name adopted in 1976, and credited with bringing the first battery-powered smoke detector and the first battery-operated CO alarm to market.
- The BRK Quick Connect wired interconnect is built into the hardwired ceiling boxes already installed in millions of U.S. homes, which is why replacement units in our testing installed without any rewiring.
- Four First Alert products earned a spot in our smoke and CO detector testing, spanning hardwired 10-year sealed-battery combos, an AA-backup variant, a maintenance-free 3-pack, and a dedicated hearing-impaired strobe alarm, a broader lineup than any other brand in that roundup.
- Review counts on the tested units run from under 300 to more than 1,600, with ratings between 4.3 and 4.5 stars across the line.
- Now part of Resideo Technologies since April 2022, giving the product line access to Resideo's broader connected-home security and life-safety engineering.