This Weekend, Change Your Clocks and Change Your Batteries

CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA — This Sunday, March 10, clocks across the United States will move forward by an hour as 2019’s daylight saving time begins. Fire chiefs across Metro Atlanta are reminding residents to change the batteries in their smoke alarms at the same time, too.

Cherokee County Fire Chief Tim Prather says the annual change from standard time to daylight saving time is a great opportunity to make sure your smoke alarm(s) is working properly.

"Every year in Georgia, there are fire fatalities in homes that did not have smoke alarms, or where the alarms did not function because of dead batteries," Prather said in a statement.

"If you have a smoke alarm, make sure it is in working order," he said. "Changing the battery at least once every year and cleaning dust from the device are easy ways to ensure continued protection of your family and your property. Having a working smoke alarm doubles the chances you will survive a fire in your home."

The National Fire Protection Association reports three out of every five home fire deaths across the nation resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.

In fires in which the smoke alarms were present but did not operate, more than half of them had missing or disconnected batteries after nuisance alarms, such as the alarm going off during cooking.

Dead batteries caused one-quarter of the smoke alarm failures. The rest of the failures occurred because of defective or improperly installed alarms. So, remember this weekend to Change the Time, Change Your Batteries!