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A sure sign that spring’s on the horizon: One hour less shut-eye on Motzei Shabbos no matter when you turn out the lights.

You may have lost a bit of sleep, but in the months ahead you’ll gain an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings.

Set those clocks 60 minutes ahead before you hit the hay on Motzei Shabbos. The time change officially starts Sunday at 2 a.m. local time.

FDNY Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro is urging all New Yorkers to change the batteries in their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms when changing their clocks for the start of Daylight Saving Time on March 8th. Anyone without a smoke alarm is urged to get a 10-year sealed battery combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarm for every level of their home.

“A working smoke alarm is critical to surviving a fire in your home,” said Commissioner Nigro. “I implore every New Yorker to test their smoke alarms this weekend when they change their clocks, and if you do not have one, install one immediately where you sleep and on every level of your home.”

In 2018 – the top three causes of fatal fires were open flames, electrical, and smoking – in 53% of the fatal fires there was no working smoke alarm present.

The time change isn’t observed by Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.

Since 2007, the time change has reverted to standard time on the first Sunday of November and changed to daylight savings time on the second Sunday of March.

Hence the phrase, “Fall back, spring ahead” to help people remember which way to turn their clocks during what season.

Daylight savings is also a good reminder for people to check smoke alarms in their residences to ensure they’re working properly.

Energizer and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, or IAFC, are partnering to encourage families to change the batteries in smoke alarms and CO detectors, a task that doubles a family’s chance of surviving a home fire, according to a news release by the program.

“The habit of changing batteries during Daylight-Saving Time is an easy task that can be the difference between life and death,” Chief Jeffrey D. Johnson, president of the IAFC, said in the release.

A home fire death occurs approximately every three hours in the United States, killing 540 children each year, according to data from the National Fire Protection Association.

Ninety-six percent of families in the U.S. have smoke alarms, but 19 percent of the detectors do not work, Johnson said. A smoke alarm provides extra time for people to escape a fire so it crucial that batteries are changed often.

Prior to 2007, daylight savings time in North America began on the first Sunday of April and concluded the last Sunday in October.

The change to extend daylight savings time by one month was proposed in a small section of the 551-page Energy Policy Act of 2005 in the United States’ Congress. The act targets energy efficiency and was signed into law by former U.S. President George W. Bush.

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