Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery!

Since 1966, most states have been changing the clocks twice a year in order to save an hour of daylight. Love it or hate it, daylight saving time is coming up again.

When you fall back in the early morning hours of Sunday November 7th, the Cedarburg Fire Department wants you to think about an important way to move fire safety forward when you move the hands on your clock. The Cedarburg Fire Department is urging citizens to “Change Your Clock – Change Your Battery” in both smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in their homes. Recognizing that working smoke alarms and CO alarms double a family’s chance of surviving a home fire and/or an unsafe carbon monoxide level. Chief Vahsholtz says Daylight Savings Time is a great opportunity for families to change the batteries. “This simple procedure can help us avoid tragedies in the place we should feel the most secure – our homes.”

Along with working smoke alarms and CO alarms home escape plans are another way you can avoid injury or death in the home. By identifying at least two different escape routes, families can practice the plan together – before an emergency strikes. Practicing the plan helps educate younger children to the danger of hazardous situations and the importance of recognizing that the sound of a smoke alarm or CO alarm signals a potential hazard in the home. Changing the battery in your smoke alarms and CO alarms, along with developing and practicing a home escape plan, are three of the best ways to protect your loved ones and yourself from fire and carbon monoxide poisoning. These life saving electronic devices have a life expectancy of ten years for smoke alarms and CO alarms. Please replace the units at these intervals to ensure optimal performance in the event an incident involving fire or a carbon monoxide leak was to occur. 

Please note that manufacturers have also made available smoke alarms and CO alarms with 10 year lithium batteries, which eliminates the need to replace batteries during the suggested life of the alarms. If your home is protected by these devices you may not need to change the battery. On the back of every alarm are instructions about battery replacement, lifespan of the device, and also meaning of the different alarm patterns it can make. Please check and follow the manufacturer instructions.