smoke detector

As the clocks turn back this weekend and the north country gains an extra hour of sleep, it is also time for residents to check their smoke alarms.

Watertown Fire Capt. Rich Little said they always recommend that when people change their clocks, they also check their batteries.

Most detectors now have a 10-year lifespan, but Little recommends testing those even if it hasn’t been a decade yet.

“Even if they are a 10-year smoke detector, it doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to function for 10 years. You still need to test it,” he said.

Little recommends testing once a month, but people should be testing the smoke detectors at least twice a year.

He also said to test all detectors while adding that just because one works, doesn’t mean that all of them work properly.

“You want to make sure that you go around to each individual detector and make sure that detector is working at full volume as it should,” he said.

Clocks going back have no impact on the smoke detectors, but people should be testing them bi-annually, and Little called it “the tradition.”

Battery life on smoke detectors has increased, Little said.

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