EFFINGHAM FIRE DEPARTMENT - NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS - MARCH 2007
Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery
March 7, 2007Dick Kenter - Public Information Officier
The Effingham Fire Department would like to remind residents to change their clocks Sunday for daylight-saving time. The Fire Department would like to take this opportunity to remind people that this is a good time to change batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Daylight-saving time starts at 2:00 AM Sunday, March 11, and clocks need to be set forward one hour.
Changing the batteries before the old ones run out and testing all smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors monthly helps ensure that the detector works property to alert residents to escape in the event of a fire or CO detection.
According to research by the National Fire Protection Association, 96 percent of homes in the United States have at least one smoke detector, but more thank one-third of those are inoperable because of dead or missing batteries.
About 70 percent of home fire deaths happen in homes with either no smoke alarms or ones that are not working properly, officials said.
Fire officials also urge residents to check the lifespan of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors since many are made to last only 5 to 10 years and may need to be replaced.