SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — When you set your clock back one hour Saturday night, the State Fire Marshal is asking you to inspect your smoke alarms as well.
According to the Fire Marshal, there were 91 residential fire deaths in Illinois in 2019, with most of them occurring in homes without working smoke alarms.
“We recommend testing smoke alarms once a month, but the time change serves as a built-in reminder to test, inspect and replace nonoperational or expired smoke alarms, along with replacing batteries,” said Illinois State Fire Marshal Matt Perez.
“Time is everything when it comes to escaping a home fire, and a working smoke alarm will increase your chances of escaping if a fire was to break out.”
Almost three out of every five home fire deaths in the U.S. resulted from fires in homes with non-working smoke alarms from 2012-2016, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
“Modern construction uses more synthetic material which means homes burn faster and hotter, decreasing the time people have to escape,” said Perez.
“This makes the importance of having working smoking alarms in the home.”
A 2017 Illinois Law required ten-year sealed smoke alarms be installed in all homes built before 1988 or that do not have hardwired smoke detectors by Jan. 1, 2023.
