Smoke alarms are a proven life-saving device. In fact, they cut the risk of dying in a home fire nearly in half.  Daylight-saving time presents the perfect opportunity to check out necessities like smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms.

When you change your clocks, check the smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector batteries, make sure flashlights are working, test the fire extinguisher and be sure that everyone in your household knows the escape routes.

Consider the following:

• Each day, an average of three children die in home fires –1,100 children each year. About 3,600 children are injured in house fires each year and 90 percent of child fire deaths occur in homes without working smoke alarms.

Although smoke alarms are in 92 percent of American homes, nearly one-third don’t work because of old or missing batteries.      

• A working smoke alarm reduces the risk of dying in a home fire by nearly half.

The “Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery” campaign encourages you to arm yourself against home fires by taking some basic home fire safety precautions, including installing fresh batteries in smoke alarms.

There should be at least one smoke alarm outside of each sleeping area and on every floor of your home. For increased protection, it is recommended that a smoke alarm be installed in each sleeping room. All smoke alarms must be inspected and tested on a monthly basis. Properly installed and working smoke alarm will provide an early warning and nearly double the chance of surviving a fire. For the best protection install dual smoke detector, ionization and photo electric.

The firefighters of Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety encourage families to annually change their smoke alarm batteries.