Change Your Clock, Change Your Batteries!

As time change approaches on Sunday, March 14, Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue wants
to remind residents to make another change that could save their lives – changing the
batteries in their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

Communities nationwide witness tragic home fire deaths each year. Approximately
every 3 hours a home fire death occurs somewhere in the nation and 80 percent of those
occur in homes without working smoke alarms. Non-working smoke alarms rob
residents of the protective benefits home fire safety devices were designed to provide.
The most commonly cited cause of non-working smoke alarms: worn or missing
batteries.

Changing smoke alarm batteries at least once a year is one of the simplest, most effective
ways to reduce these tragic deaths and injuries. In fact, working smoke alarms nearly cut
in half the risk of dying in a home fire. Additionally, the International Association of
Fire Chiefs recommends replacing your smoke alarms every ten years.

To save lives and prevent needless injuries in Steamboat Springs, Steamboat Springs Fire
Rescue has joined forces with Energizer and the International Association of Fire Chiefs
for the 22nd year of the Change Your Clock Change Your Battery campaign. The
program urges all Americans to adopt a simple, lifesaving habit: changing smoke alarm
and carbon monoxide detector batteries when changing clocks back to standard time each
spring, this year on March 14. Americans are encouraged again to check the batteries
during the fall time change on November 7, 2010.

The peak time for home fire fatalities is between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when most families
are sleeping. Smoke alarm maintenance is a simple, effective way to reduce home fire
deaths. Children and senior citizens are most at risk, and a working smoke alarm can
give them the extra seconds they need to get out safely.

In addition, Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue recommends residents test smoke alarms and
carbon monoxide detectors by pushing the test button, planning “two ways out” and
practicing escape routes with the entire family. Families should also prepare a fire safety
kit that includes working flashlights and fresh batteries. During the spring, communities
should use the time change on March 14, 2010 as an opportunity to check the batteries in
emergency power kits.

For more information about fire safety, call Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue at (970)879-
7170 or the Change Your Clock Change Your Battery hotline at 314-727-5700 X108.