Greensboro, NC-- It feels like we just changed time back one hour, to gain that fathom hour of sleep. And now, it's already time to set clocks forward an hour.
The seasonal "Spring Forward, Fall Back" which notes the two seasons that time changes, has arrived.
That said, this Sunday, March 11 you should move your clocks ahead an hour at 2 am. Or, as most people do set it ahead before you go to bed Saturday night.
Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The time change precedes the first day of spring and the vernal equinox, which is set to take place at 1:14 a.m. on Tuesday, March 20.
Read: History Of Daylight Saving Time.
Fire Departments across the country and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) use Daylight Saving time as an opportunity to urge consumers to replace the batteries in their smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms.
According to the CPSC, there was a yearly average of 386,300 residential fires resulting in nearly 2,400 deaths between 2006 and 2008. Two-thirds of fire deaths occur in homes where there are no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. That is why it is important to replace batteries at least once every year and to test your alarms every month to make sure they work.
CPSC and emergency responders recommend consumers have smoke alarms on every level of their home, outside bedrooms and inside each bedroom.
CPSC estimates there was an annual average of 183 unintentional non-fire CO poisoning deaths associated with consumer products between 2006 and 2008. CO is called the "invisible killer," because it is a colorless, odorless and poisonous gas. Because of this, people may not know they are being poisoned. Carbon monoxide is produced by the incomplete burning of fuel in various products, including furnaces, portable generators, fireplaces, cars and charcoal grills.
Read: More Daylight Saving Time History