Reminder: Change Your Batteries in your Smoke Alarms

The good news? Over ninety-three percent of all homes in the United States have a least one smoke alarm. The bad news is that one third of them are not working.
           
Each day, an average of nearly three children die in home fires ~ 80% of fire deaths involving children occur in homes without a working smoke alarm. An early warning can provide critical extra seconds to escape, smoke alarms double your family’s chance of getting out of a home fire alive ~ but only if they work.

A Convenient Habit 

On November 7th daylight savings ends at 2am local time. Therefore you needed to change your clock back one full hour to "Fall Back" to the Fall/Winter hours of Daylight Savings.  When you do, make a lifesaving change in your household ~ change the batteries in your smoke alarms.

March 9th is the last day of the Daylight Savings Calendar. Therefore you needed to change your clock forward one full hour to "Spring Forward" to the Spring/Summer hours of Daylight Savings.  When you do, make a lifesaving change in your household ~ change the batteries in your smoke alarms. This simple habit takes just a moment, but is the best defense your family has against the devastating effects of a home fire. Your detectors have been working for about 4,320 hours over the past 6 months since we changed our clocks, the batteries need replacing!!
 
Also, take the time to review your family’s fire escape plan and include these reminders:  always have two ways out of every room, have a family meeting place and once you are outside, never go back in. 
 
Estero Fire Rescue offers a smoke alarm program free to all Estero residents.  If you need assistance in replacing your smoke alarm, the battery or have any questions or concerns, please contact us at (239) 390-8000

Brief History About Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Saving Time was changed slightly in 1986 when President Reagan signed Public Law 99-359. It changed Daylight Saving Time from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April. No change was made to the ending date of the last Sunday in October.

This was done ostensibly to conserve energy during the month of April. Adding the entire month of April is estimated to save nationwide about 300,000 barrels of oil each year.
 
United States residents will set their clocks one hour back on Sunday, November 4th, in accordance with an act signed by President George Bush two years ago.

Daylight-saving time formerly applied from 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April until 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October in areas that did not specifically exempt themselves. The former daylight-saving time period was in place for 20 years, but a 2005 Energy Policy Act extends daylight-saving time three weeks in spring and a week in the fall in an effort to conserve energy.

On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.