This weekend it’s time to ‘Spring Forward’ and move your clocks ahead one hour. When you change your clocks, change your Smoke & Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarm batteries. Following battery replacement, check the manufacturing date which is stamped on the bottom…smoke alarms should be replaced every 8-10 years and CO Alarms every 5-7 years (from manufacturing date not the install date). This date is stamped on the bottom of your Alarms (see picture below).
Some facts: According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Dead batteries caused one-quarter (25%) of the smoke alarm failures. Almost three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (40%) or no smoke alarms that were working (17%). In fires in which the smoke alarms were present (but did not operate) more than two of every five (43%) of the smoke alarms had missing or disconnected batteries.