Macon-Bibb Fire Department: Change your clock, change your battery

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – As Daylight saving time nears, the Macon-Bibb Fire Department wants to remind you that when it’s time to change the clocks, it’s time to change the batteries in your smoke alarms.

“If batteries are missing or dead, the smoke alarm does not work,” said Chief Brenda Thomas, Director of Fire Prevention. “You won’t get the early warning that will allow you to act in a safe and timely manner.”

Thomas says that upwards of 60% of fires occur in buildings or structures that don’t have smoke alarms installed. If you don’t have any smoke alarms in your house, the Fire Department will come out to your home and install them for you free of charge. A smoke alarm which hasn’t malfunctioned should be replaced around once a decade.

“We’ve been installing smoke alarms for 20 plus years, but unfortunately, we still have people in their homes without them,” Thomas said. “Smoke alarms give what we call the early warning, where you and your family could probably walk out of the front door without any issues.”

Chief Thomas recommends you make sure you have an alarm inside of every bedroom in your house, or out in a hallway nearby if you don’t have that many. She also suggests you test the alarm once a month by pressing the “test” button located on the device. Also, if your alarm begins to “chirp”, replace the battery immediately.

If you want your own smoke alarms installed, you can call the Macon-Bibb Fire Department at 478-751-9180, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., or go by the nearest fire station on the weekend.