KANNAPOLIS ó As our nation changes clocks back to Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, the Kannapolis Fire Department encourages residents to test home smoke alarms and replace the batteries if they are more than a year old.
Working smoke alarms significantly increase chances of surviving a deadly home fire. A properly installed and maintained smoke alarm is the only thing in the home that can alert homeowners and their family to a fire.
In addition to changing batteries this weekend, the USFA recommends the following safety tips:
Dust or vacuum smoke alarms when you change the batteries.
Test alarms once a month using the test button.
Replace the entire alarm if itís more than 10 years old or doesn’t work properly when tested.
Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, including the basement, and both inside and outside of sleeping areas.
For the best protection, equip your home with a combination of ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms or dual sensor alarms.
Interconnect all smoke alarms throughout your home so that when one sounds, they all sound. Interconnected alarms are available at most stores that sell smoke alarms.