Fire safety survey reveals 'alarming'
lack of awareness by Canadians

Canadian households due to
change batteries this fall,
new survey by Canadian fire chiefs
and Duracell reveals

TORONTO (Oct 2, 2008) – As Fire Prevention Week kicks off in Canada on October 5th, a new survey reveals that about one in three Canadians are due to change the batteries in their home smoke alarms this fall or risk being ill-prepared in case a fire breaks out in their home.

The seventh annual Duracell Fire Safety Survey revealed that for 32% of Canadians surveyed, it's been at least 12 months since they last changed the batteries in their home smoke alarms. Worse, one in four Canadians admit to never changing home smoke alarm batteries at all in the past year as recommended by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC), rendering the critical first line of defense in preventing home fires useless.

With October 5 - 11 marking 2008 Fire Prevention Week in Canada and Canadians spending more time indoors, Duracell and the CAFC are urging Canadians to keep their families and homes fire safe. 

"A working smoke alarm is a key step in fire safety preparedness and Canadians need to be more proactive on fire safety to maximize safety in their own homes," said Pat Burke, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, Duracell's partner in the 2008 national fire safety survey.

The CAFC and Duracell are advising Canadians to get into the habit of refreshing alarm batteries at least once a year and recommend that an easy way to remember when to change batteries is to do so when resetting clocks every fall or spring. The survey revealed that 27% of respondents who have battery-operated smoke alarms change the batteries during the spring or fall time change. However, many Canadians are all over the map and do not have a reliable reminder for this critical task.

According to Burke, "October is a great month for changing the batteries in smoke alarms. It's a time of the year where we're all back inside cleaning chimneys and furnaces, and focusing on smoke alarms can easily fit into this fall routine."

The survey also reveals that a whopping 70% of Canadian homes with children admit that they "never" practice home fire drills, even though such drills can save precious seconds in the event of a potentially deadly fire emergency.

Even before practicing a home fire drill, it is essential to have an up-to-date fire escape plan in place so every family member knows what to do in case of a fire. And remember that even the best fire escape plan can become useless without a working smoke alarm that's armed with fresh batteries.

To help Canadians remember the importance of changing the batteries in home smoke alarms at least once a year, for the month of October, Duracell has created a specially-marked pack of batteries.

This special pack includes a sticker, which can be put on smoke alarms, calendars or where ever household batteries are stored, to indicate the date when the batteries next need to be changed. This will help eliminate confusion over when to replace batteries.

Canadians can also visit http://www.duracellfiresafety.com/ to request an e-mail reminder to change their batteries on a date of their choice. The website also has a "tell a friend" feature allowing Canadians to share the important fire safety information with their friends and family – and in doing so, they can receive coupons for instant savings on the next purchase of Duracell batteries.

"Fire safety in the home is a serious issue and we will continue to support fire officials to get this life-and-death message out to Canadians," said David Stitt, business manager for Duracell. "We want to make it easier for people to remember when to change the batteries and we urge everyone to get into the habit of changing them during October."

This year, as the CAFC marks its 100th anniversary, Duracell and Canada's fire chiefs also are partnering with Canadian Tire Stores to name Canada's Junior Fire Chief. The contest gives Canadian boys and girls aged 7 to 12 years the chance to win a trip Ottawa to spend a day with the city's fire chief. Details on the contest are available online at http://www.juniorfirechief.ca/.

The seventh annual Duracell Fire Safety Survey was conducted by Omnitel*, a division of Acrobat Research, between May 8th - May 11th and July 10th – July 13th, 2008 and involved a sampling of 1000 Canadians. The results are accurate to within +/-3.10%, 19 times out of 20.

About Duracell
Part of Procter & Gamble, Duracell is the world's leading manufacturer of high-performance alkaline batteries. Duracell also sells various other types of batteries including lithium and zinc air batteries, as well as rechargeable Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries and chargers. The company also markets general purpose flashlights. Visit http://www.duracell.com/ for more information about Duracell batteries.

About Procter & Gamble
Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Always®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Pringles®, Folgers®, Charmin®, Downy®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Actonel®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella, Gillette®, and Braun.  The P&G community consists of over 135,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide.  P&G is the leading consumer products company in Canada with over $2.9 billion in annual sales.  Please visit http://www.pg.ca/ for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.