The Portage La Prairie Fire Department reminds you to change the batteries in your smoke alarms this weekend when turning the clocks back for daylight savings.

Portage Fire Department Captain Corey Jowett says changing your batteries when you change your clocks, and testing the alarms once a month, ensures your smoke alarm will be in working order in the event of a fire. He adds it's also a good idea to clean you smoke alarms when changing the batteries.

"Just take the soft bristle brush on your vacuum and give it a nice cleaning. Smoke alarms will become hyper-sensitive and cause false alarms once they become dirty so just make sure that they're clean. People have a tendency, if they start acting up, they'll just take them down and not put them up, at that point, they're not good for anybody. So as long as the batteries are in, they're working, they're being tested and cleaned, they'll be there in the event there's a fire."

He notes the fire department has a smoke alarm replacement program and explains a bit about it.

"We'll come in and inspect their current smoke alarms if they need replacing we can replace up to two smoke alarms in the residence. All you need to do is call the fire department at 239-8340, set up an appointment, and we'll get to them as soon as we can. It's part of our program to ensure that people have working smoke alarms on every floor of the residence."

Jowett also recommends practicing a fire escape plan so you know where to go if the alarm goes off.