Things that go Bump in the Night

It wasn't a bump, really, but the scream of the smoke detectors that woke us up at about 1:30 am last night. You know how it is - first you think it's the phone, then the iPod, and the noise is loud enough to almost blast you out of bed before you realize what it is.

Once the brain is able to focus on the issue, you realize that there is no smoke. In fact, with the windows and doors open to the night breezes, there is nothing but the night air wafting through the house, night air and the smell of skunk.

We've had the skunk smell on occasion. No big issue - we get bears, raccoons, the odd mountain lion... we live in the woods so all that is pretty normal. I spent the next 15 minutes looking for what could have set off the smoke alarms. No place in the house was left unexplored. Nothing was found. Nothing but that skunk smell.

So now the question is: can skunk fragrance set off smoke alarms? I did find one serious discussion on the web about this and the conclusion seemed to be "maybe", but "maybe not". A coincidence, or....?