This Sunday, Nov. 4, Americans will be turning back their clocks and snoozing for an extra hour. And while daylight saving time might be a good excuse to sleep a little longer, it is also a good reminder to check your smoke alarms.
On average, seven people die in a home fire in the U.S. every day. A working smoke alarm can reduce your chance of dying in a home fire by 50 percent, but nearly 60 percent of home fire deaths occur in households that do not have working smoke alarms. In a home fire, seconds count, and can mean the difference between escaping a fire safely or tragedy.
When you change the clock, take time to change your smoke alarm batteries. If you have no detectors in your home, this is a great time to install them.
Public safety officials have said a properly installed and maintained smoke detector is the only thing in homes that can alert families to a fire 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whether you are awake or asleep, a working smoke detector is always on alert, scanning the air for fire and smoke.
Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Commissioner and State Fire Marshal Julie Mix McPeak said, “Most fatal fires occur at night while the victims are sleeping. The smoke and toxic gases generated by a fire can cause people to sleep more deeply which lessens the likelihood of surviving a fire. A working smoke alarm can double the chances of survival by increasing the amount of time persons have to escape fires in their homes.
“To help ensure the safety of you and your loved ones, it is recommended that you replace the batteries twice a year in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. This reduces the chance of alarms chirping to indicate low batteries. All too often, a battery is removed and not replaced, putting a home’s occupants at risk. There’s no way to predict when a fire will occur, so even one night without an operational smoke alarm can be dangerous.”
There are important steps you can take to prevent tragedy from happening:
• Install at least one smoke alarm on every level of the home, including the basement. For best protection, smoke alarms should be installed inside and outside bedrooms. Make sure everyone can hear the alarm and knows what it sounds like. • For the best protection, equip your home with a combination of ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms or dual-sensor alarms.
• Smoke alarms with 10-year sealed batteries are available and designed to last for the life of the alarm. If the alarm chirps on these units, replace the entire smoke alarm right away.
• Test alarms once a month using the test button. Replace the entire alarm if it’s more than 10 years old or doesn’t work properly when tested.
• Devise a fire escape plan with two ways out of every room and a common meeting place. Share and practice the plan with all who live in the home, including children.
• When a smoke alarm sounds, get out of the home immediately and go to your pre-planned meeting place to call 911.
So remember to check those smoke detectors when you reset your timepieces on Saturday. Doing both will make you ready for the next time this happens, on March 10.