E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire Prevention Week 2008  
Fire Prevention Week 2008
October 5-11, 2008
"Prevent Home Fires" — that's the message of Fire Prevention Week (FPW) 2008. Your home should be a safe haven. But do you regularly check for home fire hazards? If not, there is the potential for danger. Fire departments responded to nearly 400,000 home fires in 2006.

From October 5-11, fire safety advocates across the country will be spreading the word to their communities that, with a little extra caution, preventing the leading causes of home fires - cooking, heating, electrical and smoking-materials - is within their power.  

 

Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire, the tragic 1871 conflagration that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres. The fire began on October 8, but continued into and did most of its damage on October 9, 1871.

In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson issued the first National Fire Prevention Day proclamation, and since 1922, Fire Prevention Week has been observed on the Sunday through Saturday period in which October 9 falls. According to the National Archives and Records Administration's Library Information Center, Fire Prevention Week is the longest running public health and safety observance on record. The President of the United States has signed a proclamation proclaiming a national observance during that week every year since 1925. 

For more information about Fire Prevention Week 2008, please visit the official NFPA website at www.firepreventionweek.org.
 
 

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