Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday morning at 2 a.m. and as you change your various time pieces that are analog and have to be changed manually, don’t forget to change the batteries in your smoke alarms and other home warning devices. Hopkins County Fire Chief Andy Ensley says this is a great time to put fresh batteries in your alarms.
Smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms do an important job of giving you and your family time to escape a fire or CO poisoning incident, but only if they have batteries that are working.
In an average year, 2,200 people die in home fires and there are about 400 CO poisoning deaths each year. Many of those who died did not have working smoke or CO alarms in their homes.
Here are a few steps to take to keep your family and home safe:
- Change smoke and other alarm batteries at least once each year.
- Test the alarms every month to make sure they are working.
- Smoke alarms should be installed on every level of the home and inside each bedroom.
- CO alarms should be installed on every level of the home and outside each sleeping area.
