EPFD: Change Smoke Alarm Batteries This Weekend

When you change the clocks back one hour this Saturday evening or early Sunday morning, the El Paso Fire Department hopes you also remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms.

“Smoke alarms are going to give you that early detection,” said John Concha, the spokesman for the fire department. “When you don’t have that early detection, that’s when the fire goes from being a small, little fire, to a large room fire.”

Concha has told ABC-7 that in two-thirds of house and building fires in El Paso, there was no smoke alarm or one that didn’t work. It is that statistic that makes Concha urge everyone to have an alarm.

“It’s something they have got to think about. It may not ever happen, but it’s a preventive measure,” said Concha.

Lower Valley resident Ismael Chavez said he used to have an alarm, but took it off the wall when he repainted his house. Chavez admitted that he and his wife talked about getting new ones, but never did.

“I know there’s been a lot of fires around because, let me tell you, we hear about them on TV and we hear about people who are our friends and I think we should have an alarm in every home,” Chavez told ABC-7.

He finally had one installed through the fire department’s program which provides a free smoke alarm to those who can’t afford to buy one.

“Now that the fire department has put it in I feel a little bit safer,” said Chavez. “The decision that I made a while back, well, now I know and now I’ll be checking on my alarm.”

The fire department urges everyone to test their alarm once a month and to replace the batteries twice a year.

If you want to see if you qualify for a free smoke detector through the fire department, call 771-1090.