Spring Forward, Change Smoke Detectors

Daylight Saving Time begins this weekend, and Patch urges residents to change the batteries in their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors when they spring forward.

The time change will take place at 2 a.m. Sunday.

On its website, the Setauket Fire Department cites a Johns Hopkins University study that says "75 percent of residential fire deaths and 84 percent of residential fire injuries could have been prevented by smoke detectors."

Dennis Mirante, chief of the Setauket Fire Department, said it's important to align battery changes with Daylight Savings Time changes so a rigid replacement schedule is established.

"Adhering to this schedule is much easier than trying to recall the last time one changed the batteries and subsequently changing them before they die," Mirante said in an email to Patch. "The worse thing one can do is to wait [until] the battery power has been exhausted, as determined by testing the detector, then replace the battery. Doing this opens a time window during which the detector provides no protection, because the batteries are dead."