October 9th begins Fire Prevention Week 2016 with the theme of “Don’t wait, check the date!” It encourages everybody to check the date on your smoke detectors to see if they are more than 10 years old and, if they are, to replace them immediately. Most of the public is unaware that a smoke detector needs to be replaced once in a while in order to be able to provide a timely warning in the event of a fire which puts them at an increased risk for injury or death. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA):
“One-fifth (20 percent) of all U.S. homes with smoke alarms, the smoke alarms aren’t working; three out of five home fire deaths result from fires in properties without smoke alarms (38 percent) or with no working smoke alarms (21 percent). People tend to assume that simply having smoke alarms in their home ensures adequate protection from fires, but it takes regular testing and maintenance to ensure that that’s the case. Part of that effort is making sure you know how old the smoke alarms in your home are, and that they’re replaced every 10 years. The age of a smoke alarm can be determined by looking for the date of manufacture on the back or side of the alarm, and to replace the units 10 years from that date.”
We encourage you to check the dates on your alarms, if not right away, do it when Daylight Savings Time ends on November 6th when you CHANGE YOUR CLOCK, CHANGE YOUR BATTERIES! For more information on Fire Prevention Week go to the NFPA website: http://www.nfpa.org/
