Chances are about 95 percent of you have a Smoke Alarm in your home, 20% do not work due to worn or missing batteries- this means nearly 19 million homes are at needless risk nationwide! A working Smoke Alarm and Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarm can provide the critical extra seconds people need to escape a tragedy. Over 6,000 deaths occur in house fires each year.  Most people die from smoke and toxic gases rather than the fire itself. The peak time for home fatalities is between 10PM and 6 AM, when most families are sleeping. As fall and cooler weather approaches and everyone is busy with activities, testing and maintenance of these warning devices are forgotten! This is the time to protect your family from the tragedy of fire and CO poisoning by putting new batteries in your alarms!

To increase the odds for more than the 625,000 Charlotteans who could be at risk, Fire and Life Safety Education of the Charlotte Fire Department is urging people not only to check their Smoke and Carbon Monoxide alarm batteries when they move their clocks forward Sunday March 9, 2008,   but to replace those batteries to ensure that these alarms will be in good working condition for the busy winter months. 

Replacing Smoke and Carbon Monoxide alarm batteries twice a year is one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce the number of deaths and injuries related to poisoning and home fires.  A working Smoke Alarm and development of a home escape plan, along with yearly home fire drills, more than doubles your chances of surviving a home fire. Without a working Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarms to act as an early warning device, fire and poisonous gases can spread unnoticed throughout the household, blocking escape routes and filling rooms with deadly smoke and toxic gases. Also, you should practice your evacuation plan by doing at least two home fire drills a year!

The Charlotte Fire Department encourages you to replace those Smoke and Carbon Monoxide batteries this weekend when the time changes!