The City of Rocky Mount Fire Department urges you to adopt a simple, potentially life saving habit: Change the batteries in your smoke alarms when you change your clocks back to standard time this fall (October 29, 2000). Without a working smoke detector as an early warning device, fire can spread unnoticed through the household, blocking escape routes and filling rooms with deadly smoke.

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

· Each day, an average of three children die in home fires - 1,100 children each year. About 3,600 children are injured in house fires each year. Ninety percent of child fire deaths occur in homes without working smoke alarms.

· Although smoke alarms are in 92% of American homes, nearly one-third don't work because of old or missing batteries.

· A working smoke alarm reduces the risk of dying in a home fire by nearly half. Protect your family!

· It is also a good idea to change the batteries in radios to ensure that you are able to hear emergency information in the event power is lost for any reason.

If you have questions regarding this or any other fire and life safety issue, please contact the Life Safety Division at 972-1376.