Change Your Clocks, Change Your Batteries

As fall approaches, the Sonora City Fire Department reminds area residents to make “another change” when changing your clocks back an hour this weekend. With the end of Daylight Savings Time, firefighters say to also change the batteries in your smoke detectors and alarms.

Communities nationwide witness tragic home fire deaths each year. An average of three children a day die in home fires and 80 percent of those occur in homes without working smoke alarms.

Changing the smoke alarm batteries at least once a year is one of simplest, most effective ways to reduce these tragic deaths and injuries. In fact, working smoke detectors nearly cut in half the risk of dying in a home fire.

To save lives and prevent injuries in Sonora and the surrounding communities, the Sonora Fire Department has joined forces with the International Association of Fire Chefs and Energizer for the 16th year of the “Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery” campaign. It´s a life saving habit.

“The peak time for home fire fatalities is between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when most families are sleeping,” said Sonora City Fire Captain Eric Hille. “Children and senior citizens are most at risk, and a working smoke alarm can give them the extra seconds they need to get out safely.”

For more information about fire safety or smoke alarms, call the Sonora Fire Department at (209) 532-7423 or your local fire station.