HYANNIS – Fire officials urged residents to check their alarms this weekend as daylight saving time begins.
“As we “spring ahead” with daylight savings time, remember to check your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, said State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey in a statement.
“Working smoke alarms are key to surviving a fire. Unless you have newer alarms with 10-year sealed batteries, this is a good time to replace the alkaline batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.”
Ostroskey said that the winter season is not fully finished, and there is still a risk that furnaces may break and cause carbon monoxide leaks in homes.
The state fire marshal also recommended that residents replace their alarm entirely if it is more than 10 years old.
For carbon monoxide alarms, he recommended replacing them after five to seven years.
If alarms are replaced, the State Department of Fire Services said residents should replace them with photoelectric alarms with 10-year sealed, non-replaceable and non-rechargeable batteries with a hush feature.
“Fire officials hope that if we make smoke alarms easier for people to maintain, they will take care of them. We see too many disabled smoke alarms in fires when people really needed them to work,” said Ostroskey.
The department said that time is the enemy during a house fire, and alarms can provide the precious time needed to escape a blaze or carbon monoxide poisoning.
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