Full Notification

The return to standard time begins tomorrow morning at 2:00 a.m. (Sunday November 6, 2011) and can be a life saver for you and your family. The City of Folsom Fire Department would like to remind all residents that the time change is a great opportunity to replace the batteries in your home smoke detectors. Approximately 3,000 people die each year in a house fire in the United States. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports that nearly half of those deaths occur in homes that do not have working smoke detectors. NFPA also reports that twenty percent (20%) of home smoke detectors do not work because of dead or missing batteries.

The importance of smoke detectors is underscored by the following information provided from the Consumer Product Safety Commission: your chance of surviving a house fire doubles if there are working smoke detectors in your home.

Although smoke-detector batteries might last as long as a year, experts say they should be changed twice yearly: at the return of standard time on the first Sunday in November, and then again when clocks are changed to daylight-savings time on the second Sunday in March.

Even if your smoke detector is “hard wired” into your home electrical system they most likely have backup batteries to make sure the detectors work during a power failure. It is also important to use the proper kind of batteries. Ordinarily alkaline batteries are best suited for smoke detectors. The “Ni-Cad” and other rechargeable batteries designed for high-tech electronics are not appropriate for home smoke detectors.

In addition to changing the batteries twice a year it is also important to check smoke detectors monthly by pressing the test button. NFPA recommends that smoke detectors be replaced after ten years of use.

There should be one smoke detector in every bedroom, along with a detector outside each sleeping area. Make sure that you have at least one detector on each level of your home. To increase the level of protection, consider installing detectors that are interconnected, so that all detectors sound an alarm as soon as one detects smoke. Because smoke rises it is important install all smoke detectors high on the wall or on the ceiling. Always follow the written installation instructions provided by the manufacturer at the time of purchase.