San Diego, California News Station - KFMB Channel 8 - cbs8.comTime to Fall Back an Hour, Check Smoke Alarms

Time to Fall Back an Hour, Check Smoke Alarms

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Most time-sensitive electronic gadgets have gotten smart enough to know when it's time to fall back an hour, but those that haven't will need a little human help when Daylight saving time ends early Sunday.

Before going to bed Saturday night, people should set their clocks back an hour: Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday.

The Burn Institute and San Diego County Fire Chiefs' Association reminded residents that when they set their clocks back, they should also change the batteries in their smoke alarms.

According to the Burn Institute, having a working smoke alarm cuts your chances of dying in a house fire by 50 percent.

Daylight saving time was first proposed in 1905 by the prominent English builder and outdoorsman William Willett when he observed with dismay how many Londoners slept through a large portion of a summer day.

Willett died in 1915, a year before Germany became the first nation to adopt daylight-saving time. The United States adopted daylight-saving time in 1918, but dropped it a year later, as Congress overrode a veto of the bill by President Woodrow Wilson.

Daylight saving time was observed year-round in the United States from Feb. 2, 1942, to Sept. 30, 1945, as a World War II energy conservation measure.

Over the next 21 years, daylight saving time was observed on a state-by-state basis. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act of 1966, setting a national pattern, although some areas -- including Hawaii and most of Arizona - remained on standard time throughout the year.

The end of daylight saving time was pushed back a week beginning in 2007 under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The new end date was chosen to have
Halloween celebrated under daylight saving time, thus increasing the amount of trick-or-treating under daylight hours, which backers of the bill hoped would reduce the number of trick-or-treaters killed or injured in nighttime car crashes.