Fire and Emergency New Zealand wants you to help yourself this weekend when daylight saving ends.

On Sunday 4 April at 3am the clocks push back one hour, taking us back to New Zealand standard time.

"This is also the weekend to check your smoke alarms are working, no matter how new they are or how recently you changed the battery," National Advisor Fire Risk Management Pete Gallagher says.

"Of the residential fires Fire and Emergency attended last year, 33 per cent didn’t have working smoke alarms." he says.

"Fire moves very fast. You only have three minutes to escape. You are four times more likely to survive a house fire if you have working smoke alarms."

"Having working smoke alarms in the right places in your home to alert all members of the household as early as possible, is the critical first step in a n effective escape plan" Pete Gallagher says.

Fire and Emergency NZ recommends installing smoke alarms in every bedroom, hallway and living area. Landlords are expected to install working smoke alarms and tenants to check them regularly - we recommend once a month.

You can find information about installing and maintaining smoke alarms at escapemyhouse.co.nz/sorted.

"Every year, with the arrival of autumn and winter, when people start lighting fires and turning on their heaters, we see a significant increase in the number of residential fires."

Pete Gallagher also recommends people get their chimney’s cleaned and check electrical appliances that haven’t been used in a while.

You can find information on how to develop an escape plan at www.escapemyhouse.co.nz

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