When does daylight saving time begin? | Charlotte Observer

Sun revelers, rejoice.

The days are not only getting longer, daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, when clocks need to be turned an hour forward.

Firefighters said it’s also a good time to change the batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

“An alarming but true fact is 80 percent of child fire fatalities occur in homes without working smoke alarms,” Chris Stowe of the Gastonia Fire Department said Wednesday.

“Changing the batteries in smoke alarms twice per year, and testing the detectors monthly, is the best way to reduce these tragic deaths,” Stowe said.

Many fire departments have free smoke alarms for those who lack one or have a damaged or out-of-date alarm.

Daylight saving time was first introduced in Europe during World War I, although American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin advocated the practice as far back as 1784, according to daylightsavingstimechange.org.

Franklin said the change would save “a considerable number of candles.”

Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1.