Fire Prevention Week

Since Buddy and I are both Volunteer Firefighters/EMTs, I feel led to mention that October 5-11, 2008 is Fire Prevention Week.

Fire Prevention Week was originally created to commemorate The Great Chicago Fire, that did the majority of its damage on October 9, 1871. Legend says that "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" kicked over a lamp, setting a barn on fire, which in turn set the city on fire.

This year's theme is Prevent Home Fires. Cooking fires are the #1 cause of fires in the home, mostly due to unattended cooking.

Does your family have an escape plan in place? Do you know where the family would meet should the unthinkable happen? Do your kids know 2 ways to get out of their bedroom? (Hopefully there is a window.) Do your kids even know what the smoke alarm sounds like?

This would be a great week to sit down with your family and talk over some of these questions. Come up with a family plan....wouldn't you rather be prepared, instead of something like this catch you off-guard?

The next time you ride by your local fire department, stop by and take a look around. Our members love showing the trucks to families that stop by.

To learn more about Fire Prevention week, or to get ideas, lesson plans, etc, just click here.