Smoke alarms are the single most important means of preventing fire-related deaths in the home.  They warn people who would otherwise be overcome by toxic smoke gases in their sleep.  Properly installed and maintained, they will give residents those crucial minutes they will need to escape.  

• Each year there are over 400,000 residential fires that cause nearly 4,000 deaths, over 18,000 injuries and $4.7 billion in property losses.
• More than half of all fire fatalities occur in homes without a working smoke detector.
• In a fire, smoke spreads farther and faster than fire.  More people die from breathing smoke than from burns.
• When people are asleep, deadly smoke fumes can cause them to sink into unconsciousness and then death, long before flames ever reach them.

Here is a simple solution to keep your alarm working at all times:

Twice a year we change the time on our clocks (fall backward, spring forward), and in the fire service, we say that changing the clocks should always go hand in hand with changing the batteries in your smoke alarm. 
Change the batteries in your smoke alarm also.  If you make this a ritual, you will go a long way toward keeping your home and family safe from fire.