network continues to operate properly and can communicate messages throughout the network should a power outage occur for example if each of the rfds a b and c are hazardous condition detectors such as smoke detectors carbon monoxide detectors or combination units if the power is disrupted to the ffd 1 it may be important for the rfds a b and c to be able to communicate with each other should one of the rfds detect an alarm condition if the ffd 1 is inactive and unable to communicate the alarm signals between the rfds a b and c an alarm condition in one room of a home may not be relayed to an alarm device in another room in order to address the above identified problem it is necessary to loosely interpret the 802 15 4 standard to allow each of the rfds to accept messages from other devices besides their assigned ffds during a narrowly defined condition as an example the rfds a b and c will be configured to accept messages from each other and alternate ffds when the primary ffd is not available in order to satisfy the 802 15 4 standard the present invention will allow the rfds to accept messages from devices other than the assigned ffd only under well constrained circumstances and in specifically defined situations the details of which follow referring now to fig2 in accordance with the present invention after one of the rfds a l has failed to communicate with its assigned ffd 1 5 and therefore has transitioned to an u201c orphaned state u201d as defined by the 802 15 4 standard the rfd can.