Daylight savings time officially begins at two Sunday morning, so to be on time Sunday you need to spring forward or set your clock up one hour before going to bed Saturday night.
The State Fire Marshals office suggests you change the batteries in your smoke detectors every spring and fall with the time change.
Ameren Illinois official Brian Bretsch says the utility suggests you go a step further.
“It is always a good idea to restock or create a family home emergency kit and to always know where that is in case if Mother Nature has a Spring storm or Summer storm that blows through that, unfortunately, knocks out power to our customers.”
And Bretsch has some suggestions on what they should contain.
“It should contain things like water bottles, when you are changing batteries in your smoke detectors you should also change the batteries in your flashlight that you should keep in this emergency kit, you should also look at changing the batteries in a battery-powered radio that should be there, battery-powered alarm clock, non-perishable food items, definitely a first aid kit, a list of your medications and if you can have some extra medications that is a good idea.”
Bretsch says it’s also a good idea to have a small amount of cash set aside in the kit in case an electrical outage prevents purchases with the use of debit or credit cards.
