Change Your Clock, Change Your Batteries: Cobb County Fire Department

Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services is reminding residents to use the upcoming switch to Daylight Savings Time as an opportunity to replace the batteries on their smoke detectors.

Spokeswoman Dennell Boyd said on Friday that two out of every three fatal home fires occur in homes without functioning smoke detection systems. The most common cause of smoke detector failure is exhausted batteries, she added.

Once Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, residents with smoke alarms with replaceable batteries should take the time to replace those batteries to ensure the proper functioning of their detectors. Residents with long-life smoke detectors shouldn’t have to do anything, unless the detector is beeping. In that case, a new detector will need to be purchased, according to Boyd.