Time to Turn Your Clocks Ahead, Test Your Smoke Alarms

The American Red Cross asks everyone to TURN and TEST as daylight saving time begins this Sunday, March 10 ─ TURN your clocks forward one hour and TEST your smoke alarms.

Home fires claim more lives in a typical year than all natural disasters combined. But working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a home fire by half. Fire experts say you may have less than two minutes to escape a burning home before it’s too late. Every second counts. To help protect your household, take these lifesaving steps:

• Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, including inside and outside bedrooms and sleeping areas. Test alarms monthly and replace the batteries at least once a year if your model requires it.

• Replace smoke alarms that are 10 years or older. That’s because the sensor becomes less sensitive over time. Check the date of your smoke alarms and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

• Practice your two-minute escape plan. Make sure everyone in your household can get out in less than two minutes. Include at least two ways to get out from every room and select a meeting spot at a safe distance away from your home, such as your neighbor’s home or landmark like a specific tree in your front yard, where everyone knows where to meet.

• Teach children what a smoke alarm sounds like. Talk about fire safety and what to do in an emergency.

Visit redcross.org/fire for more information. You can also download our free Emergency app by searching “American Red Cross” in app stores.

HOME FIRE CAMPAIGN SAVING LIVES The Red Cross responds to about 65,000 disasters every year and most of them are home fires. To help prevent fire-related deaths and injuries, the Red Cross launched the Home Fire Campaign in 2014 to reduce fire-related deaths and injuries.

Sound the Alarm events are part of the Home Fire Campaign. Across the country, local volunteers and community partners meet with families to install free smoke alarms, help them create a two-minute fire escape plan and share safety information on home fires and other local disaster risks.

So far, the campaign is credited with saving more than 2,000 lives in the U.S. Through the support of our community partners and volunteers, the campaign has installed almost 2.7 million smoke alarms and helped to make 1.1 million homes safer.

Recently, State Farm® donated $1 million to the Red Cross in support of the Sound the Alarm efforts. For decades, State Farm® has teamed up with the Red Cross in support of home safety, disaster preparedness and relief efforts. State Farm® is committed to helping build safer, stronger, better-educated communities. National sponsorship of Sound the Alarm is an opportunity for State Farm® to help even more individuals and families manage the risks of everyday life.