Sunday November 5, 2023 is the end of Daylight Saving Time, and while modern technology has made it such that we don't need to turn back every clock in the house tonight, you should change the batteries in your smoke & carbon monoxide detectors. If you don't have a smoke & carbon monoxide detectors, GET ONE!

The Holbrook Fire Department recommends you change the batteries in your smoke & carbon monoxide detectors when you change the clocks during "Daylight Savings Time", to ensure they get changed at least twice a year. The death rate per 1,000 reported home fires was more than twice as high in homes that did not have any working smoke alarms (12.3 deaths per 1,000 fires), either because no smoke alarm was present or an alarm was present but did not operate), as it was in homes with working smoke alarms (5.7 per 1,000 fires). Smoke & carbon monoxide alarms are life saving device, and having working smoke & carbon monoxide alarm dramatically increases your chance of survival from a fire or carbon monoxide emergency.

Although it seems like a hassle, it's better to get into the practice of changing your smoke/co detector batteries when you change your clocks, than to wait until the telltale beeping of a dying battery at 2 o'clock in the morning, which many times ends up in the removal of the battery or the detector all together, thus rendering the detector useless.

Fires & carbon monoxide emergencies are real and very scary. A working smoke detector works around the clock and alerts you and your loved ones to a fire or carbon monoxide emergency even while you are asleep, When the alarm sounds you should "Get out & Stay Out", then call "911" and advise the Holbrook Fire Department Dispatcher of the problem.

Help us, help you! Check your smoke detectors once a month, and when you "Change your clocks, Change Your Batteries"!