Change Your Smoke Detector Batteries As You Change Your Clocks.

Daylight Saving Time is coming to an end which means moving the clocks forward and it's a chance to consider fire safety. It's important to have smoke detectors installed throughout your house but it's not enough to simply install and forget about them. Twice a year, it is critical that you test your smoke detectors and replace their batteries. An easy way to tackle this task is to change your smoke detector batteries as you go through your house to change your clocks. At the same time, it can be helpful to dust or vacuum the detectors to keep them free of debris that can interfere with their operation. Establishing this habit twice a year could save the lives of you and your loved ones.

More than half of home fire deaths result from fires in the homes with no smoke alarms. Eighty-six percent of all homes in the United States have at least one smoke detector but a third of them do not work. Most smoke detector failures are attributed to a lack of annual battery replacement. With Daylight Saving Time upon us, it is a good reminder to change those batteries. Should you neglect to change your smoke detector's batteries, the device may make a chirping sound to alert you that the battery is running low. One should not rely solely on that warning noise. It is always better to proactively change the battery every six months. Once your smoke detectors have been cleaned and their batteries replaced, ensure that everyone in your household is familiar with the sound the smoke alarm emits and knows how to react immediately.