Don’t Forget to Turn Back Your Clocks One Hour Sunday – Test Smoke Alarms

Daylight savings time will come to an end at 2am Sunday, November 3rd when clocks will be turned back one-hour. The time change will create darker evening hours with the sun setting around 4:50 in the afternoon. It is also a good opportunity to test all your smoke alarms in your residence to ensure they are properly functioning.

“Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire in half as you only have about two minutes to safely get out,” said Zachariah Riley, Executive Director, Southern Tier Chapter, American Red Cross of Western New York. “Every second counts when there’s a home fire and the sooner an alarm alerts you to a fire, the sooner you can get to a safer place. When daylight saving time ends this weekend, test your smoke alarms to help prevent a tragedy in your home.”

The American Red Cross says throughout the past year, their volunteers assisted over 1,200 people across Upstate who were affected by more than 700 home fires. The Red Cross says nationally, their organization handles around 65,000 disasters with a majority being home fires.

Smoke alarms should be installed with one at least on every level of your home, especially inside each bedroom and in the hallway areas near bedrooms. Smoke alarms should also be replaced every 10 years due to sensors inside the alarms becoming less sensitive to smoke over time.

Residents should also plan a home fire escape plan, especially if children are living at the residence. The plan should be considered a “2-minute plan” where residents can escape the building within two minutes. Also include a safe-spot meeting area after escaping.