Weirton Daily Times
Daylight saving time returns at 2 a.m. Sunday, when we move our clocks ahead one hour.
While that means we will have an extra hour of sunshine to enjoy outdoor activities, it also represents a good time to check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
According to the National Fire Protection Association and the National Safety Council reported that in 2022, fire departments across the United States responded to an average of 1,504,500 fires in the United States. Those blazes were the result of 3,790 civilian deaths and 13,250 civilian injuries, the numbers show.
Cooking, at 49 percent, represents the greatest cause of home structure fires, followed by heating equipment at 13 percent, electrical distribution and lighting equipment at 9 percent and smoking materials at 5 percent. Sadly, 7 percent of the fires are set intentionally.
On average, the numbers show, a fire department will respond to a fire somewhere in the United States every 21 seconds.
One home structure fire is reported every 88 seconds, and one home fire-related injury happens every 53 minutes. Sadly, there is a death attributable to a home fire every three hours and 14 minutes.
Firefighters also are at risk when they answer a call, with 66,650 injuries occurring in the line of duty in 2022, a number that represents an 8 percent increase over the 60,750 injured reported in 2021, according to the NFPA. Sadly, there were 96 deaths of on-duty firefighters reported.
Smoke detectors save lives and limit property damage.
Read more: https://www.weirtondailytimes.com/opinion/editorials/2024/03/check-your-clocks-smoke-alarms/
