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ELKINS – The Elkins Fire Department is offering free smoke detectors to residents, and is recommending that batteries be changed in smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms during the changeover to Daylight Saving Time this weekend.
Company 40 only has a limited number of smoke detectors currently available to install in area residents' homes, but Elkins Fire Department Chief Steve Himes said more detectors are on the way.
"We've always had the smoke detectors, we just launched it again to try and polish people's memory because of Daylight Saving Time coming up this weekend," Himes told The Inter-Mountain Friday.
"We've had them since the last time it was posted, but it just kind of died off and people haven't been calling to request them, so we are just trying to spark everyone's memory. We have a limited quantity, but I have a call in to get more."
Himes said the American Red Cross is currently supplying the Elkins Fire Department with the life-saving devices, which include batteries that have a 10-year life span.
"The Red Cross is currently supplying them to us and as part of the requirements of handing them out, we have to come out and hook them up in people's homes," Himes said.
He added that Daylight Saving Time should act as a reminder for everyone to check the batteries in their detectors. In the United States, clocks will officially spring forward at 2 a.m. on Sunday. Daylight Saving Time ends on the first Sunday in November, when the clocks turn back an hour.
More than 2,000 people die from unintentional home fires each year, and more than 400 people perish from carbon monoxide poisoning, also known as the "Invisible Killer" because it is hard to see and smell.
Home owners are encouraged to make sure that alarms are functioning properly by testing them each month and changing them out every 10 years.
To set up an appointment to have a smoke detector installed, call the Elkins Fire Department at 304-636-3433 or email shimes@cityofelkinswv.com.