Spring Foward into Safety!

Remember March 8th at 2am begins Daylight Savings Time. Spring Forward into Safety. Remember to change the batteries in your smoke detector when you change your clocks.

Smoke detectors save lives!

Fire Facts:

71% of smoke alarms which failed to operate had missing, disconnected or dead batteries.
11 p.m. to 7 a.m. are the peak alarm times for home-fire deaths – when people tend to be asleep and the house is likely to be dark.
Home fires kill an average of seven people every day.
Although the number of home fire deaths has substantially decreased, the risk of dying in a reported home fire has not.
On average, families have less than three minutes from the time the first smoke alarm sounds to escape a fire.

Those at greatest risk:

Children under five are 1.4 times more likely to die in home fires.
Roughly three‐quarters of child-fire fatalities under age 15 occurred in homes without working smoke alarms.
On average, home fires kill 500 children ages 14 and under each year.
Seniors age 75 and older are 2.8 times more likely to die in a home fire.

Smoke Alarm and Fire Safety Facts:

23 million homes are at risk because of non‐working smoke alarms and an additional 5 million homes are at risk by not having smoke alarms.
In the U.S., almost two‐thirds of home-fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with inoperable smoke alarms or no smoke alarms.
Households with non‐working smoke alarms now outnumber those with no smoke alarms.
The National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code recommends a minimum of one smoke alarm on each level of a home, including the basement, one inside each bedroom and one outside each sleeping area. Homes should also have at least one working carbon monoxide alarm on each level of a home, including the basement and one outside each sleeping area.
Smoke alarms don’t last forever. They should be replaced at least every 10 years.
Only 23 percent of U.S. families have developed and practiced a home fire escape plan to ensure they could escape quickly and safely.

Carbon Monoxide Facts

Carbon monoxide is sometimes called the “the silent killer.” It is colorless, odorless and tasteless. The National Safety Council reports that almost 700 people die each year as a result of unintentional poisoning by gases or vapors in non‐fire situations. Carbon monoxide was involved in the majority of these deaths.

_{Source: Fire statistics were obtained from reports by the Fire Analysis and Research Division of the National Fire Protection Association. See www.nfpa.org for more information.}