It is that time of year again. You know the time of year when it is dark when you go into work or school and dark when you get home. Now that you changed your clocks back early Sunday morning it is also time to be sure to change out the batteries on your smoke detector.

If you have children it is also a great time to make sure that you have chosen a meeting place and do a home fire safety drill. Use the test button on your smoke detector and be sure that your children know to leave the house and meet you at your meeting place when they hear the smoke detector go off. Your meeting place should be somewhere away from the house. It could be a particular neighbor’s front porch, a large tree that is away from your house, or anywhere that you feel is a safe distance away from the house. Be sure to teach them that once they are outside they do not go back inside for any reason.