Daylight saving time always signals the changing of the seasons. The added hour of light at the end of the work day encourages us all to move out of our winter slumber, the tulips start to bloom and dragging our children out of bed while it is still dark to get them to school makes us all look forward to summer.

Daylight saving time should have also been the reminder to test and maintain one of the most important safety features in our homes, our smoke alarms.

Now that you have had a week to adjust to losing an hour, the American Red Cross encourages you to make sure you have working smoke alarms and know what to do if they go off.

Smoke alarms save lives. You should:

Check your smoke-alarm batteries. Take a few minutes to replace the batteries in your smoke alarms and push the test button to make sure the alarms are working.

Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas.

Check monthly that smoke alarms are working properly by pushing the test button.

Replace batteries in smoke alarms at least once a year.

Replace smoke alarms every 10 years.

It’s also a great time to check your carbon monoxide detectors.

In addition to checking and replacing smoke alarm batteries, households should take a second important step in fire safety.

Planning for fire emergencies is important, so all families should practice fire drills at home. Visit http://rdcrss.org/JwSNUG for more information on this.

Make sure all household members know two ways to escape from every room of your home, and set up a meeting place outside in case of a fire. Practice escaping from your home at least twice a year and at different times of the day.

To make a fire-escape plan, visit http://rdcrss.org/10H5yEg.

Also, if you are interested in learning more about how to promote home fire safety and potentially help save someone’s life through our Home Fire Preparedness Campaign, call your Red Cross at (970)259-6642.

Eric Myers is executive director for the Red Cross in Western Colorado. Reach him at eric.myers@ redcross.org or 242-4851.