Fall Back: Time To Change The Clocks And The Smoke Alarm Batteries

October 31, 2009

Don’t forget to “fall back” and set your clocks back one hour before heading to bed tonight. And public safety officials also want you to change the batteries in your smoke alarms.

“The peak time for home fire fatalities is between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when most families are sleeping,” says Frank Edwards, Escambia County Public Safety bureau chief. “Smoke alarm maintenance is a simple, effective way to reduce home fire deaths. Children and seniors are most at risk. A working smoke alarm gives them the extra seconds they need to get out safely.”

Changing smoke alarm batteries at least once a year is one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce these tragic deaths and injuries. In fact, working smoke alarms reduce the risk of dying in a home fire by nearly half. Additionally, the International Association of Fire Chiefs recommends replacing your smoke alarms every ten years.

Communities nationwide witness tragic home fire deaths each year. An average of two children per day die in home fires and 80 percent of those occur in homes without working smoke alarms. Non-working smoke alarms rob residents of the protective benefits home fire safety devices were designed to provide. Worn, dead or missing batteries are the most commonly cited cause of non-working smoke alarms.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Archive