With Daylight Saving Time approaching on Sunday, The Office of the State Fire Marshall along with your local Fire Department, and the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance (IFSA) are reminding you to change the batteries in your smoke alarm. The National Fire Protection Association reports that between 2012 and 2016, 3 out of every 5 home fire deaths in the U.S. resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or non-working smoke alarms. In fires where the smoke alarms were present but did not operate, more than 2 out of every 5 of the smoke alarms had missing or disconnected batteries. Nicholas Zepin with the Taylorville Fire Department says that changing your batteries in your smoke alarm is extremely important, even if they aren’t dead yet. 

The Illinois General Assembly has worked hard to push through new laws that will replace smoke alarms with a new smoke alarm that has a 10-year sealed battery. Zepin says this goes into effect in 2023. “The new law doesn’t take effect until January 1, 2023. It will require Illinois residents to upgrade their homes to the new 10-year smoke detectors.” Zepin says, “They’re manufactured with internally sealed batteries that are worry and maintenance-free. We encourage all residents to upgrade as soon as possible as it just makes your home that much safer” 

Zepin also says that smoke alarms are one of those things that nobody thinks about until you actually need it around.

For the long term 10 year battery alarm, there is no need for battery replacement, which could save homeowners up to $60 in battery costs. At the end of the ten years, the smoke alarm will automatically alert the homeowner to replace the alarm. 10-year battery smoke alarms range between $15-$20.