Change your clocks and change your batteries

ZANESVILLE, OH- As clocks fall back an hour this Sunday for the end of daylight-saving time, fire officials say it’s also a good reminder to check something even more important, your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

The Zanesville Fire Department says when you change your clocks, it’s a perfect time to change the batteries in all your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Officials also recommend testing your alarms every month by using the test button to make sure they’re working properly.

“It’s a proven fact that smoke detectors save lives, so what we want to make sure is that we keep them in good working order, so we like to form habits and remind people to when you change your clocks, change your batteries,” said City of Zanesville Fire Chief, Jeff Bell.

Chief Bell says working smoke detectors can make all the difference in a fire emergency, especially as temperatures drop and heating appliances start running more often.

“Fire is very fast, it doubles in size every 30 seconds, so we want to make sure that you have adequate warning to make sure you get out safely in case there is a fire in your house, and especially this time of year when we start getting cooler temperatures and we have heating appliances and stuff, we have usually more fires in the winter time, you know we are putting up our Christmas lights, and we want people to be safe and have their smoke detectors in good working order,” said Bell.

Firefighters say taking a few minutes to check your alarms and replace old batteries could save your life.