The 8th of October is the anniversary of the day that the City of Chicago in 1871 burned for 27 hours. This was the first major conflagration in the United States. Three hundred people died; 90,000 people were left homeless and 17,400 structures were destroyed.
1911, the 40th anniversary; the Fire Marshall’s Association of North America continued to keep the citizens aware and informed about the importance of fire prevention.
1920, President Woodrow Wilson issued the first National Fire Prevention Day proclamation, setting Fire Prevention Week as Sunday through Saturday, the second week of October.
In subsequent years, other Presidents have commissioned Fire Prevention studies to identify fire causes and attitudes that can prevent fires. America burning was studied in the ‘70s and later revisited in the ‘80s. Hundreds of fire issues have been identified but many of those items remain as major fire causes.
Our approach to prevent Fires is through the 3E Approach: Education, Engineering and Enforcement. Fire Safety Education takes place year round at festivals, community gatherings, recreation summer camps, etc.
Engineering is utilizing technology like smoke detectors, residential sprinkler systems and fire safe building materials.
Enforcement is when communities enforce excepted compliance standards for building codes, installation of safe alternative heating devices. UL Standards encourage the use of safe appliances and electrical devices.
Fire Prevention youngsters is scheduled for Wells Elementary School for Kindergarten through Grade 3, Children 5 and under at the Morrison Center as well on Tuesday, October 13, 2016. Fire Fighter James Martin will be the Fire Educator this day. He will provide handouts to the participants to bring home.
On November 6th when we change our clocks back one hour, we will kick off a smoke detector battery replacement activity. Stay tuned for more information.