Greenville Fire Department is urging borough residents to replace the batteries in their smoke alarms when they turn their clocks back for daylight savings time Oct. 27, said Fire Chief Steve Thompson.

"At least half of the fires we respond to do not have working smoke dectectors," he said.

For 15 years, the fire department has offfered to replace the batteries free of charge to borough residents who are not able to do it themselves, Thompson said. The department will also hang any smoke alarms residents need to have installed, and have a limited supply of free batteries, available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Thompson said the fire department usually gets between 80 and 100 batteries a year and always run out.