Sunday cartoon: Replace smoke alarm batteries

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BURRILLVILLE – It’s the first weekend of November, and that means we turn our clocks back one hour and also replace our smoke alarm batteries for the winter and holiday season.

It’s extremely important that everyone replaces smoke alarm batteries, especially this time of year. Smoke alarms, or smoke detectors, whichever you prefer, helps save lives in case of an apartment or house fire.

I would strongly recommend businesses, restaurants, diners, automotive shops and garages do the same. This recommendation would also apply to daycare centers, community centers, libraries, sports and athletic buildings. It only takes a few minutes to change batteries in these life-saving devices, and could potentially save lives.

Smoke alarms should be placed on every level of your apartment building and home. You could also test your smoke alarms and batteries once a month to see if they are functioning properly. Five minutes is all it takes to ensure that you and your loved ones are safer.

I’d also like to remind everyone to practice exit drills in the home with the entire family before the weather becomes too harsh, and establish a safe meeting place away from your property. Another great fire safety and burn prevention tip would be to practice, “Drop Low and Go,” with your child or children. The coloring cartoon for the kids also features this message. If for some reason your apartment or home does catch on fire please call 911 – and get out and stay out. Never go back into a burning building for any reason. There is nothing inside that is worth risking your life to retrieve. When firefighters and first responders arrive on the scene let them know right away that the apartments or homes are no longer occupied by anyone and everyone has safely escaped the fire. This helps keep them safer and able to focus on saving property and not a trapped person still inside.

Finally; I would like to thank all of our firefighters and first responders for making sure everyone is safer in our cities, towns and communities. This is a firefighters and first responders appreciation coloring poster for the kids to color in and display on the family refrigerators in your apartments and homes as a reminder to be fire safe and help prevent unintentional burns during the winter and holiday season. Please share and thank a firefighter and first responder for their hard work and dedication regarding keeping kids and families fire safer.

Jim Weicherding is a Burrillville resident, and the founder and creator of an award-winning traffic safety effort Seasons of Safety. Weicherding contributes kids’ coloring cartoons, which can be printed and used to help parents discuss safety issues with their children. He has a long list of police officers and firefighters in his family and has worked with law enforcement and firefighters in a creative public safety capacity for more than two decades

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