By JESSE GRAHAM
WITH daylight savings winding up this weekend, emergency services are urging residents to use the occasion to focus on their safety and change their smoke alarm batteries.
The CFA has urged residents to change their smoke alarm batteries along with their clocks as part of the Change Your Clock – Change Your Smoke Alarm Battery campaign on Sunday 6 April.
The reasoning behind the campaign is using the end of daylight savings as a reminder to keep smoke alarms updated because batteries last about 12 months.
Hillcrest Fire Brigade Captain Fiona Burns said that working smoke alarms can help to avoid residents being killed in house fires by alerting them to the danger.
“The purpose of having a working smoke alarm is to provide the family or the occupants with enough notice to get out of their home before their lives are placed at risk,” she said.
“They save your life, or they give you the chance to get out of the house.
“We can replace houses, we can’t replace people’s lives.”
In the Yarra Ranges, there were 77 preventable residential fires in 2013, with a total estimated loss of $4,509,200.
Capt Burns said that it was important to change smoke alarm batteries yearly, check the alarm weekly and for every member of the family to have an up-to-date and rehearsed fire plan.
“This is a plea from local brigades – we don’t want to go to a house fire with fatalities in it because people didn’t have an operational smoke alarm,” she said.
“We’re asking the community to help themselves and help us, and to avoid what can be a life-altering outcome for lots of people.”
She said it was important for residents to replace smoke alarms that are older than 10 years old because they can become unreliable over time.
