Change Your Clock Change Your Battery

The CAL FIRE San Bernardino Unit has a simple but powerful reminder for all members of our community this weekend. When you set your clocks back from daylight savings time, change and test the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

Twenty-three years ago, Energizer and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) recognized a disturbing trend that many home fire fatalities were taking place in homes without working smoke alarms. The Change Your Clock Change Your Battery Program was developed to help reduce this number. Along with thousands of fire departments nationwide, Energizer and the IAFC have been reminding communities to check and change their smoke alarm batteries and make sure that their smoke alarms are working when they set their clocks. Additionally, it is recommended to replace your smoke alarms every 10 years and have a mix of both ionization and photo electric smoke alarms to alert you to all types of home fires.

Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in reported home structures in half. As a
30-year fire service veteran, I have witnessed first-hand the tragedy and devastation of home fires. It is even more heartbreaking when a young life is cut short. Thousands are injured and killed each year from home fires. When you take into account that residential fire deaths tend to peak in winter months, it’s critical to check and change the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors this weekend.

Fire prevention is always one of the primary efforts for every fire department including the CAL FIRE San Bernardino Unit. Fire prevention works the best when the public is part of the prevention effort. This is a very simple way for your readers to become part of the fire prevention team. No one thinks that tragedy will strike them yet annual statistics prove that hundreds of lives could be saved or spared from injury if only a working smoke alarm had been in the home. Please take the simple step to protect your family by changing the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors or installing new ones if necessary.


Sincerely,

Chief Tim McClelland
CAL FIRE/San Bernardino Unit Chief