Every guide on Ember & Exit is research-based. We don’t test products hands-on. Here is what that means in practice, and where our method stops.
Who writes our guides
Our guides are written by William Kirwin, who founded and runs Ember & Exit. No firefighting, fire-inspection, engineering or medical qualifications are claimed. Read more on our About page.
Where our information comes from
- Public safety guidance. NFPA, the U.S. Fire Administration, CPSC and Ready.gov for alarm placement, escape planning, maintenance and what to do in an emergency. When these sources differ, we say so.
- Standards. Where a product category has a published standard (for example ASTM F2175 for residential escape ladders, or UL listings for alarms), we compare makers’ published figures with the parts of the standard that are publicly available.
- Manufacturer documentation. Product pages, manuals and spec sheets. If we can’t confirm a spec there, we leave it out or mark it as not published.
- Recall records. We search the CPSC recall database for the products we feature and give the date of the search.
- Independent published results, when they exist, credited to whoever ran them.
How we label claims
Each product claim is labeled by where it comes from: Listed, Maker states, Seller claim or Not published. What each label means, and the older wording some earlier guides still use, is in our Editorial Policy.
Where our method stops
We do no hands-on testing and no lab work. Our picks rest on published specifications, the relevant standards and official guidance (NFPA, USFA, CPSC and Ready.gov), and maker documentation such as manuals and spec sheets. Our articles label them that way rather than presenting them as test results. We don’t list prices, and we don’t publish star ratings or numeric scores.
Editorial standards
Our editorial standards (how picks are chosen, independence, AI use, updates and corrections) are on our Editorial Policy page.
Corrections
How we handle corrections is set out in our Editorial Policy, and every published correction is listed in our Corrections log. To report an error, email hello@emberandexit.com.