Editorial: A battery can save your life

Most Americans rely on battery-powered smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors to alert them of a fire in their homes so they can escape to safety. Sadly, though, many of those devices often fail because of an easily remedied problem: low or dead batteries.

That's why firefighters across metro New Orleans and the rest of the country have been urging residents to use the recent change from daylight-saving time back to standard time as a reminder to also change batteries in their smoke alarms.

One in every five homes in the United States lacks a working smoke alarm, mostly because of dead or missing batteries, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Two-thirds of home fire deaths nationwide occur in these homes. In Louisiana alone, there were 68 fire deaths in properties with no working fire alarm last year, according to the State Fire Marshall.

These are sobering figures.

Changing the batteries in a smoke detector is an easy task that takes only a few minutes. After installing new batteries, firefighters recommend testing the alarm by activating its safety test button.

A working alarm could save your life. It also could save property, since smoke detectors alert residents of a fire in its early stages, increasing the chances of stopping the fire before it gets out of control.

That sounds like a lot in return for just a little bit of your time.