New Zealand Daylight Saving officially begins overnight tonight so don't forget to put your clocks forward one hour before heading off to bed.

Daylight saving starts each year at 2am on the last Sunday in September, and ends at 3am on the first Sunday in April (which will be April 4 next year). New Zealand first introduced daylight saving time in 1927. The current times have been fixed since 2007.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand has another task it would like you to carry out this weekend – check you smoke alarms’ expiration dates and check their batteries.

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Steve Turek, National Manager Community Readiness and Recovery, said it took just three minutes for a house fire to become deadly.

"Working smoke alarms will give you and your family the best chance possible of escaping a potential house fire," he said.

"If you can, also check in on family, friends or neighbours who aren’t able to check their own smoke alarms."

Eight-five percent of people say they have smoke alarms installed in their houses, but between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, only 60% of house fire callouts Fire and Emergency attended had working smoke alarms.

Mr Turek said that of the houses that had smoke alarms, 10% of those households were not alerted to the fire by their smoke alarms, indicating there was an issue with the installed alarm. This showed how important it was to install smoke alarms throughout your house, and to regularly check the batteries and the alarms’ expiration dates, he said.

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"Smoke can’t be detected through closed doors, and you can’t smell smoke when you’re asleep, so we encourage households to install smoke alarms in common areas, bedrooms and hallways," Mr Turek said. "By ensuring good coverage across your house, you can have peace of mind that any fire will trigger off an alarm."

Specialised smoke alarms were also available for people who were deaf or hard of hearing. These had extra features such as extra loud and lower pitch alarm sounds, vibrating alarms or flashing strobe lights, Mr Turek said.

Anyone who needs assistance with their smoke alarms can call 0800 693 473 to organise a free home fire safety visit, which includes providing advice about smoke alarms and other fire safety tips.

More fire safety tips can be found HERE.