As we move the clocks forward for daylight time on Sunday, Waterloo Fire Rescue has updated their safety tips.
“Historically, fire departments would comment on daylight saving time as a good reminder to change your batteries in your smoke alarms,” said Jackson Holmes, fire prevention officer at Waterloo Fire Rescue.
“Today with the amount of hardwired smoke alarms and 10-year lithium ion batteries, it is not as relevant.”
Instead of replacing batteries, Holmes mentioned that people can still use this time change as an annual reminder to check if your home’s smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are functioning properly.
He also emphasized that it’s important to ensure there’s a carbon monoxide alarm on each level of your house.
At the start of 2026 changes were made to the Ontario Fire Code that required a working carbon monoxide alarm on every level of a residence with a gas-burning appliance, including a furnace, water heater or stove.
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Is daylight time necessary?
This year’s clock change follows B. C. Premier David Eby’s announcement that British Columbia will transition to permanent daylight time. “We are done waiting. British Columbia is going to change our clocks just one more time – and then never again,” Eby said in a press conference on Monday. The announcement, made less than a week before the shift, has reignited discussions about whether moving to daylight time is necessary. Patricia Lakin-Thomas, a chronobiologist and professor from York University, agrees with Eby that changing the clocks is “outdated,” but believes B. C. should have remained in standard time instead of switching to daylight time. LISTEN | Patricia Lakin-Thomas on The Morning Edition: The Morning Edition – K-W7:32Why losing even 1 hour of sleep by springing ahead can be disruptive Are you prepared to lose an hour of sleep? Daylight Saving Time starts Sunday which means clocks are moving forward. Patricia Lakin-Thomas is a chronobiologist and professor at York University’s biology department in Toronto. She discusses B. C.’s decision regarding time changes and explains how falling back and springing ahead can affect people. “The problem is that we need the morning light,” she Lakin-Thomas told CBC K-W’s The Morning Edition. “We have a biological clock in our brain that gets reset by the bright sunlight in the morning … it runs a little slow and we need bright morning light to push it faster so that we stay in step with a day night cycle,” she said. For those who still face this annual adjustment each year, Lakin-Thomas offered some advice. “Get up and get some sunlight in the morning … get all your activities, exercise, morning light, food-try putting them all on a regular schedule as soon as you can and help reset all your internal clocks that way.”Source link
