Community Corner

Save Time, Save Lives

Officials recommend residents take a number of safety measures while setting clocks back for Daylight Saving Time.

With the end of Daylight Saving Time, Cal Fire is reminding residents that time to change the clocks means time to check smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and change the batteries.

Daylight Saving Time ended at 2 a.m. Sunday and clocks should be set back one hour. Cal Fire advised alarms should be checked and the batteries changed at the beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time. Alarm batteries should be changed twice a year, even if they are hard-wired to the electrical system, Cal Fire said.

"While you are spending a couple minutes to change the time on all your clocks, it's so easy just to add an extra minute to ensure your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms all have fresh, new batteries," said Acting State Fire Marshall Tonya Hoover.

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Roughly two-thirds of deaths due to home fires occur in residences without a fire alarm and most of the fatal fires happen at night, according to a Cal Fire statement. Working smoke alarms increase the chance of surviving a home fire by 50 percent, and almost every day a smoke alarm saves someone's life, Cal Fire reported.     

In addition to the biannual battery replacement, Cal Fire recommended testing alarms once a month and vacuuming them at least once a year, as dust and cobwebs can impair sensitivity, and replacing them every 10 years.

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Cal Fire recommended smoke alarms be installed in bedrooms, in hallways leading to bedrooms and in each level of a home, including the basement, and families should designate a emergency meeting place, prepare and practice an escape plan.

If an alarm goes off, crawl low to the ground, under the smoke, and leave the home quickly, without taking anything, Cal Fire said. Proceed to the meeting place and ensure everyone got out safely.

This year officials have added carbon monoxide alarms to their message following a new state law requiring single-family homes have a carbon monoxide alarm.

-City News Service


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