Well...didja?

[Prairie Trains]

As smoke alarms have been mentioned and as a volunteer Fire Chief I need to post some advice. Our government had an advertising campaign at this time of year to change the batteries in you smoke detector, as most government advice it is thought up by people that don't have a clew. Like Brakie I test mine at least twice a year. My alarms have an emergency light that runs off of a separate battery which is only used for a couple of seconds when tested. So when the alarm starts to beep low battery warning I take the battery out of the light and put it in the alarm side and put a new battery in the light side and test that all is working.
I find that most batteries will last at least two years. Good alkaline batteries will keep a charge when not used for many years.

So a lot of people where changing their batteries twice a year like they were told. We had a fellow who lost his house. He changed all the batteries in his four alarms and threw the eight old batteries and the packaging from the new ones in the shopping bag they came in and dropped it all in the garbage can in the kitchen. Then him and wife went to work. Now with four fully charged and four at 80 to 90 percent charged batteries in the garbage they managed to short and over heat and start the fire.

So if you are changing the batteries twice a year make sure that they are disposed of safely.