Firefighters: Check your smoke, CO detector batteries

HALFMOON – As we prepare to set our clocks back an hour this weekend and get that extra hour of sleep, local and state firefighters are reminding everyone to make sure your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working properly.

“This can save your life,” said Gigi Lubin, Home Safety Expert with FirstAlert. “You have to have a working carbon monoxide alarm in your home.”

Firefighters say it’s not only important to have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, but also to make sure they work. “When people change their clocks twice a year, it’s a good mental not for them to check the batteries in their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and also to check the operational nature, see if they’re clear and see when they were manufactured,” said John D’Alessandro, spokesperson for the Firefighters Association of the State of New York.

Most carbon monoxide detectors last for five to seven years. Five years ago, Amanda’s Law was passed, mandating carbon monoxide alarms in residential properties. Firefighters say 450 people die nationwide every year due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

“It may be time to replace that carbon monoxide detector, and since carbon monoxide is odorless, tasteless, you’re never going to know that there’s carbon monoxide in your house unless you have the detector,” said Deputy Chief Joseph Toomey with the Albany Fire Department.

“If they’re not working properly or vented properly, that carbon monoxide can enter into the house and it doesn’t take a lot of carbon monoxide to start to have harmful effects on the residents,” said D’Alessandro.

As winter approaches, firefighters also say that people should get their furnace checked, avoid using space heaters if possible, and form a fire plan with your family in case something does happen.