Updating/Replacing smoke your alarms

It is that time of year again. It is time to change clock back one hour. This time of year means a lot of things we already know. Things like gaining an hour of sleep, watching the sun set much sooner, it getting dark early, and cold weather. But that is also a good time to do a few other things for the safety of your family and your home. This means changing the batteries in your smoke detector or if needed replacing them all together. It also means this is a good time to vacuum the outside surface of the detector. There were 1743 civilian home fire fatalities reported by U.S. news media between January 1, 2017 and November 3, 2017, this according to the U.S Fire Administration. Of those deaths 86 were in Illinois alone. Three out of five home fire deaths result from fires in properties without working smoke alarms. This is over half! With your home being equipped with working smoke alarms this reduces your risk of dying in half.

What type of detector do you have?

The easiest way is to look at the manual. Also, you can flip it over and look at the back label of the detector. It should be marked with the manufacturer ans a model to look up which type of detector you have. Some homes have there smoke detectors hard wired. That means they are tied in to the electrical wires of the house. With these there is still a backup battery in there that should be replaced twice a year.

Here are some safety tips for your home.

-Replace your detectors every 10 years or less. Usually there is a date on the detector of when it was manufactured. If it does not have one then replace it!

-Never paint your smoke detectors

-Replace the batteries twice a year. When we change the clocks this is a good time to do this.

-You should also install CO detectors if you don't already have them.

These tips and small reminders will help you and your family be safer inside your home. As technology changes every year it is very important to update and if needed replace your smoke detectors. Having them updated and with fresh batteries may just save your life in the event of a home fire.