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Smoke alarms help save lives but only if they contain a working battery!

Did you know:

  • If every home had working smoke alarms, almost 900 lives could be saved each year.
  • Most people die in the first five minutes of a fire. Smoke Alarms provide an early warning in the event of a fire – where seconds count!
  • You can’t smell smoke when you’re sleeping. If anything, smoke will put you into a deeper sleep.

How to keep your smoke alarm working:

  • Test all smoke alarms once a month by briefly pressing the test button.
  • Hard-wired smoke alarms with battery backup still need to be tested monthly.
  • Never remove working smoke alarm batteries for ANY reason, such as a child’s toy, etc.
  • If your smoke alarm starts to “chirp,” the batteries are low. Promptly replace the
    batteries and reset the alarm
  • Replace batteries in all your smoke alarms 1-2 times a year.

A good rule of thumb is to change your smoke alarm batteries when you change your clock.

Don’t gamble with your life or the lives of your family.

  • Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, including the basement and in all sleeping areas.
  • If your smoke alarm goes off while you are cooking – DO NOT DISABLE IT! Some smoke alarms have “hush” button, but if yours does not, wave a towel near the alarm to clear the air.
  • Make sure all household members know the sound of the smoke alarm. If children are not awakened by the sound, establish a plan for waking them in case of fire.

Submitted by: Joe Roetter, safety director