Yes, there is still snow on the ground and and the Gothamist thermometer barely reads over 40 degrees, but believe it or not, Spring is apparently on the way. This weekend, we turn the clocks ahead one hour for Daylight Savings Time, which the FDNY always encourages you to use as the marker to take a few minutes and replace the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

Tomorrow the fire department is going a step even further to help you make sure that the needed replacements get made as they'll be giving out 50,000 free 9-volt batteries (courtesy of Duracell) at locations around the city. The FDNY will pass along fire safety tips as well and stresses the importance of changing the batteries by informing us, "Seventy percent of fire-related deaths occur in homes not equipped with a smoke alarm or in homes where the smoke alarm was not operable because of missing or dead batteries. Having a working smoke alarm increases your chance of surviving a fire by 50 percent."

The free batteries will be given away at the following locations in each of the five boroughs:

Queens

  • Jamaica Centre Parsons/Archer Train Station, 4pm-6pm
  • Flushing-Main Street Train Station IRT, 4pm-6pm


    Brooklyn

  • 85th Street and 18th Avenue-D Line, 4pm-6pm
  • Broadway (East New York) Junction Complex-Jamaica Avenue/Fulton Street, 4pm-6pm

    Staten Island
  • Staten Island Ferry-St. George Hours: 4pm-6pm
  • Kmart Shopping Center 2660 Hyland Blvd, 12pm-2pm


    Manhattan

  • West 168th Street and Broadway Train Station, 4pm-6pm
  • Corner of 350 W125th Street at St. Nicholas Ave, 12 noon-2pm


    Bronx

  • East 161st Street and River Avenue/Yankee Stadium Train Station, 4pm-6pm
  • Fordham Plaza - 430 East Fordham Road, 12 noon-2pm