Dear Abby | Change smoke alarm batteries

By JEANNE PHILLIPS

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DEAR ABBY: As a fire officer, I have seen far too many families fall victim to accidental home fires. It is devastating to find out that a life could have been saved if someone had only taken that simple step of replacing a dead battery in a smoke alarm.

Nearly 96 percent of American homes have at least one smoke alarm. But did you know that 19 percent of American homes lack a working smoke alarm because the batteries are missing or dead?

For 22 years, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Energizer have been committed to changing this statistic through the “Change Your Clock Change Your Battery” campaign. This partnership encourages families to change the battery in their smoke alarms when they set their clocks back an hour Nov. 1. This message also serves as a reminder to communities nationwide to change the batteries in their carbon monoxide detectors.

As winter approaches, more people will begin using gas appliances to heat their homes and may find themselves at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, called the “silent killer” because this gas is colorless, odorless and tasteless.

Thank you, Abby, for helping us spread this lifesaving message to your readers. — Jeffrey D. Johnson, President, International Association of Fire Chiefs

DEAR JEFF: I’m glad to help, and I know my readers are grateful for your timely reminder. It may seem like a menial task, but safeguarding yourselves and your families is extremely important — so change those batteries this weekend!

Posted on Fri, Oct. 30, 2009 10:15 PM

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