Fall Back One Hour Saturday Night; Check Smoke Alarms Too

Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Ralph Hudgens is urging Georgians to change the batteries in their smoke alarms at the same time they change their clocks back to standard time this weekend.

Daylight saving time ends Sunday at 2 a.m., when clocks are set back one hour.

Hudgens said the annual change from daylight saving time to standard time is a good reminder to make sure a smoke alarm is working as it should by changing and checking the battery and cleaning dust from the device.

The commissioner said having a working smoke alarm doubles the chances that a person will survive a fire in the home.

His office said last year in Georgia, there were 91 fatal residential fires and 43 of those fires did not have working smoke alarms.

Also, the state reported this year that 60 Georgians have died in residential fires and fire investigators were unable to determine if a working smoke alarm was present in 43 of those fires.

Again, don’t forget to “fall back” and set clocks back one hour before going to bed Saturday night.