On Sunday, Change Your Clocks and Change Your Batteries

Daylight saving time starts at 2 am on Sunday, March 13. Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead by one hour (from 2 to 3 am).

Daylight saving time has started on the second Sunday of March since 2007. The change is an effort to save energy nationwide.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, during DST the "daylight" begins an hour later in the morning and lasts an hour longer in the evening. This change helps keep the hours of daylight coordinated with the time that most people are active.

As the time change approaches on Sunday, the Washington State Fire Marshal’s Office wants to remind residents to make another change that could save their lives – changing the batteries in their smoke alarms.

“Take time to change the batteries in your smoke alarms, testing your smoke alarms, planning two ways out and practicing escape routes with the entire family. Being prepared and knowing what to do if fire happens to occur can save your life and the lives of your loved ones,” State Fire Marshal Charles M. Duffy said in a news release.

Smoke alarms most often fail because of missing, dead or disconnected batteries, so maintenance is a simple, effective way to protect your family and reduce home fire deaths. In fact, working smoke alarms nearly cut in half the risk of dying in a home fire. Warnings from smoke alarms can provide those critical extra seconds people need to get out of their homes safely.

In 2010, approximately 62 percent of Washington's fire deaths occurred in homes without working smoke alarms. The peak time for home fire fatalities is between 10 pm and 6 am, when most families are sleeping, making operational smoke alarms critical to safety.

For more information about fire safety, please visit the State Fire Marshal website at www.wsp.wa.gov/fire/firemars.htm.

— Information from the National Institute of Standards and Technology Office of the State Fire Marshal.