For many people the year 2020 can't end soon enough but tonight (October 31) we'll make the year one hour longer when we set our clocks back to standard time.  

The change officially happens at 2:00 am Sunday but you can feel free to set your analog time keeping devices before going to bed for the night.  The extra hour of sleep you'll receive will make up for the hour lost when we sprung ahead to Daylight Saving Time back in March but may not be enough to make up for all the sleepless nights we've had since then worrying about COVID-19 and the economy.

While you're setting your clocks, the Airdrie Fire Department says it's also the perfect time to remember to check the batteries in your smoke alarms and CO (carbon monoxide) detectors to make sure they're ready to keep your family safe in the event of an emergency in your home.

"The program's been in place for quite a few years with Daylight Saving Time, that whole idea of spring ahead, fall back," says Airdrie Deputy Fire Chief Garth Rabel.  "This is a great opportunity to check your batteries and make sure you change your batteries in both the spring and the fall."

According to Rabel, most residential home smoke alarms and CO alarms are hard-wired into the electrical of the home.  "So the rationale behind having a battery-operated detector as a back-up is that if you lose power your alarms will remain working for you, even without power being generated through the electrical system.  So batteries are extremely important to today's smoke alarms."

The alarms should be tested monthly to be sure they're operating correctly.  To check them, Rabel says simply press the test button and listen for the audible alarm on all levels of your home.

Rabel says even though this is Halloween weekend and the kids may be severely distracted by the candy and fun, time-change-weekend is also a good time to go over your family's escape plan.  "It all comes together nicely," he says.  "If we have our alarms in place, when they activate, we remain calm, we get our family together and we initiate our family escape plan, including the pets so we can get ourselves outside, and then we contact 911 and contact the fire department from a safe phone."

As for the individual province's debate over Daylight Saving Time, Yukon moved to permanent daylight time in March while lawmakers in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario are considering measures to do away with the twice-yearly time change. If you want to sleep on if the change is good or bad, you can do that tonight.  The extra hour should help.  

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