With the conclusion of Daylight Saving Time this weekend, the Office of the Fire Marshal offers a reminder that when it's time to change clocks it is also time to check batteries and operations of two important home safety items.

Daylight Saving Time ends this year on Sunday, November 7, at 2 am. Clocks should be set one hour back at that time — or, realistically, before going to sleep Saturday night or first thing Sunday morning.

The Newtown Office of the Fire Marshal is sharing some home safety tips that can be done every six months, coinciding with the start and conclusion of Daylight Saving Time. Carbon monoxide (CO) alarms and smoke alarms save lives, but only when they are properly working.

Fire Marshal Rich Frampton and the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) both offer this easy reminder: “Change your clocks, change your batteries.”

CO Alarms

Although the popularity of CO alarms has been growing in recent years, it cannot be assumed that everyone is familiar with the hazards of carbon monoxide poisoning in the home.

Often called the invisible killer, carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas created when fuels such as gasoline, wood, coal, natural gas, propane, oil, and methane burn incompletely. In the home, heating and cooking equipment that burn fuel are potential sources of carbon monoxide. Vehicles or generators running in an attached garage can also produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.

The dangers of CO exposure depend on a number of variables, including a victim's health and activity level. Infants, pregnant women, and people with physical conditions that limit their body's ability to use oxygen (ie emphysema, asthma, heart disease) can be more severely affected by lower concentrations of CO than healthy adults would be.

A person can be poisoned by a small amount of CO over a longer period of time or by a large amount of CO over a shorter amount of time. CO enters the body through breathing.

CO poisoning can be confused with flu symptoms, food poisoning and other illnesses. Some symptoms include shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, light headedness, or headaches. High levels of CO can be fatal, causing death within minutes.

In 2016, local fire departments responded to an estimated 79,600 carbon monoxide incidents, or an average of nine such calls per hour. This does not include the 91,400 carbon monoxide alarm malfunctions and the 68,000 unintentional carbon monoxide alarms.

Data from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics shows that in 2017, 399 people died of unintentional non-fire carbon monoxide poisoning.

CO alarms should be installed in a central location outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home and in other locations where required by applicable laws, codes, or standards. For the best protection, interconnect all CO alarms throughout the home. When one sounds, they all sound.

Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for placement and mounting height.

Choose a CO alarm that has the label of a recognized testing laboratory.

Test CO alarms at least once a month; replace them according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

If the audible trouble signal sounds, check for low batteries. If the battery is low, replace it. If it still sounds, call 911.

If the CO alarm sounds, immediately move to a fresh air location outdoors or by an open window or door. Make sure everyone inside the home is accounted for. Call for help from a fresh air location and stay there until emergency personnel.

If a vehicle needs to be warmed up before driven, remove it from the garage immediately after starting it. Do not run a vehicle or other fueled engine or motor indoors, even if garage doors are open. Make sure the exhaust pipe of a running vehicle is not covered with snow.

During and after a snowstorm, make sure vents for the dryer, furnace, stove, and fireplace are clear of snow build-up.

A generator should be used in a well-ventilated location outdoors away from windows, doors, and vent openings.

Gas or charcoal grills can produce CO, so only use these appliances outside.

Smoke Alarms

Between 2014 and 2018, smoke alarms sounded in more than half (54%) of the home fires reported to US fire departments.

Almost three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (41%) or no working smoke alarms (16%).

The death rate per 1,000 reported home fires was more than twice as high in homes that did not have any working smoke alarms compared to the rate in homes with working smoke alarms (13.0 deaths vs. 5.8 deaths per 1,000 fires).

In fires in which the smoke alarms were present but did not operate, two of every five (41%) of the smoke alarms had missing or disconnected batteries.

Dead batteries caused one-quarter (26%) of the smoke alarm failures

Smoke alarms save lives. Smoke alarms that are properly installed and maintained play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries. If there is a fire inside a home, smoke spreads fast. Smoke alarms can give people and pets time to get out.

A closed door may slow the spread of smoke, heat, and fire. Install smoke alarms in every sleeping room and outside each separate sleeping area. Install alarms on every level of the home.

Smoke alarms should be interconnected. When one sounds, they all sound.

Large homes may need extra smoke alarms. Replace all smoke alarms in a home every 10 years.

Test smoke alarms at least once a month. Press the test button to be sure the alarm is working.

Today’s smoke alarms will be more technologically advanced to respond to a multitude of fire conditions, yet mitigate false alarms.

When a smoke alarm sounds, get outside and stay outside.

Visit NFPA.org/Public-Education for additional safety tips and educational tools. Fire safety handouts and a limited supply of smoke detectors are available for Newtown residents at the Office of the Fire Marshal, located within Newtown Municipal Center. Contact the office 203-270-4370 for additional information.