Fire officials are urging New Canaan residents to make changing their smoke detectors’ batteries part of the same ritual as setting clocks ahead one hour this weekend for Daylight Savings Time.
The New Canaan Fire Department, Local 3224, and Rotary Club of New Canaan are supporting the national “Change Your Clocks—Change Your Batteries” campaign. Together with private residents, they’re giving away batteries from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 8 at Fire Headquarters on Main Street (limit three batteries per household).
Daylight Savings Time takes hold at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 9.
New Canaan Fire Marshal Fred Baker. Credit: Michael Dinan
Fire Marshal Fred Baker told NewCanaanite.com that one major advantage to changing out smoke detector batteries before they get low is to avoid the annoying chirp that indicates a low battery.
“And it always happens when? In the middle of the night,” Baker said.
That said, many homes in New Canaan have automatic alarm systems rather than individual smoke detectors that chirp when 9V batteries are low—and that’s both good and bad, Baker said.
The systems don’t require changing batteries—rather, owners must ensure that the systems are serviced regularly, he said.
“We don’t have as many single-station, battery-operated smoke detectors as other towns,” Baker said. “But the curse of that is, we get a lot more automatic alarms.”
Baker said he avoids the term “false alarms.” Though there are such things as malfunctioning systems, alarms that are triggered by human mistakes such as burnt bacon on a kitchen stove or failure to open a fireplace damper are functioning as they’re designed, he said.
Residents who are unable to change their own batteries due to age or disability may call fire headquarters at 203-594-3140 to arrange for fire fighters to come to your residence for assistance. Questions or concerns about smoke detector or carbon monoxide detectors or other fire safety topics can be directed to Baker’s office at 203-594-3030.