This weekend we shift to Daylight Saving Time by moving our clocks ahead one hour on Sunday morning at 2 a.m. Goochland County Fire-Rescue reminds everyone that this is an excellent time to make sure that your smoke alarms are working as designed.
Please change your battery and check to see that your detector(s) is/are operational. If you need any assistance in performing this task please feel to contact Goochland County Fire-Rescue's office at 804-556-5304.
Facts and figures about Smoke Alarms
- In 2009-2013, smoke alarms sounded in more than half (53%) of the home fires reported to U.S. fire departments.
- Three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (38%) or no working smoke alarms (21%).
- No smoke alarms were present in almost two our of every five (38% home fire deaths.
- The death rate per 100 reported home fires was more than twice as high in homes that did not have any working smoke alarms compared to the rate in homes with working smoke alarms (1.18 deaths vs. 0.53 deaths per 100 fires).
- In fires in which the smoke alarms were present but did not operate, almost half (46%) of the smoke alarms had missing or disconnected batteries.
- Dead batteries caused one-quarter (24%) of the smoke alarm failures.
Bottom Line...Properly Installed and Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives.