Windsor Fire & Rescue Services would like to remind residents to change their batteries in their smoke alarms when they change their clocks this Sunday, October 29, 2006 for the end of Daylight Savings Time.

“Daylight Savings Time creates an opportunity for us in the fire service to remind residents to get into the habit of changing their smoke alarm battery when they change their clock,” says Lee Tome, Chief Fire Prevention Officer.

Most fatal fires occur at night when people are asleep. Often, victims never wake up. A working smoke alarm will detect smoke and sound an alarm to alert you, giving you precious time to escape. According to statistics gathered from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office, fewer people die in home fires when a smoke alarm is present and activates. In some fires where people died, smoke alarms were present but did not activate. In 85 per cent of the cases where the smoke alarm did not activate, it was due to a dead or missing battery or other power source.

This reinforces the need to change your smoke alarm battery at least once a year, to remember to test your smoke alarm once a month, and to lightly vacuum smoke alarms every six months to keep dust from clogging the alarm.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 27th, 2006 at 9:10 pm and is filed under City News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.