October 30, 2025 | From New Orleans Fire Department
Change Your Clock, Check Your Smoke Alarm
For decades, “Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery” has been the theme echoed throughout the fire service reminding everyone to replace their smoke alarm batteries when we “Fall Back” to Standard Time each fall. With long-life, sealed lithium battery smoke alarms now being the industry standard, “Change Your Clock, Check Your Smoke Alarm” is the message we want resonated. If you have a hard-wired alarm with a sealed lithium backup battery or a standalone alarm with a long-life, sealed lithium battery, you should test your home’s smoke alarms when you change your clocks to “Fall Back” on Sunday, November 2nd, 2025, at 2:00 a.m. Residents with hard-wired alarm systems with 9-volt batteries as a backup should replace the 9-volt battery.
Everyone should check the expiration date on the back of their smoke alarms to make sure they haven’t expired and incorporate checking your smoke alarms into a monthly home fire safety practice.
If your home is protected by the old stand-alone 9-volt operated smoke alarms, please let the New Orleans Fire Department (NOFD) replace these outdated alarms with 10-year lithium battery smoke alarms, FREE OF CHARGE. If you have 10-year lithium smoke alarms already, check the expiration date on the back of the alarm to make sure they haven’t expired.
Recently, the NOFD has partnered with the New Orleans Health Department (NOHD) in support of their “Healthy Homes” initiative. NOHD’s Healthy Homes initiative is a program aimed at supplying and installing Combination Carbon Monoxide/Smoke Alarms (Combo-Alarms) also FREE OF CHARGE to residents of Orleans Parish rental properties registered with the program. If you or anyone you know qualifies for this potentially lifesaving service, please contact the NOFD at 504-658-4714 or you can make your request online at the City’s website – www.nola.gov/free-smoke-alarm and click on “Request a Smoke Alarm.”
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