Sunday October 14 from 12pm to 3 pm at the Southern Boulevard Firehouse
Hot dogs, hamburgers, soft drinks and water will be provided.
The Fire Department will have a “Fire Safety Trailer” to demonstrate home safety and show children and parents how to escape from a burning building.
Tour our fire house and see our apparatus.
Firefighters will be on hand to answer questions, provide fire prevention literature, and show off their fire fighting equipment and fire vehicles.
Children will have an opportunity to use a fire hose from one of the fire engines.
Guests will have the opportunity to learn how to use a fire extinguisher on a fire.
Guests will be able to purchase smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers.
Old fire extinguishers may also be disposed of at the firehouse.
The firefighters invite you and your family to a fun filled and educational afternoon.
Firehats and glow bracelets will be available for the children.
What is National Fire Prevention Week?
On Oct. 9, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire started. This tragic fire killed some 300 people, left 100,000 homeless and destroyed more than 17,000 structures. One popular legend claims that Mrs. Catherine O’Leary was milking her cow when the animal kicked over a lamp, set the O’Leary’s barn on fire and started the fiery conflagration. The city of Chicago was fast to rebuild and soon began to remember the event with festivities.
The Fire Marshals Association of North America believed the 40th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire should be observed in a way that would keep the public aware of the importance of fire prevention. On Oct. 9, 1911, FMANA sponsored the first National Prevention Day.
In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson issued the first national Fire Prevention Day proclamation. By 1925, President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention Week, which was Oct. 4-10, 1925. He noted that in the previous year approximately 15,000 lives had been lost to fire in the United States. President Coolidge’s proclamation stated, “This waste results from conditions that justify a sense of shame and horror; for the greater part of it could and ought to be prevented…. It is highly desirable that every effort be made to reform the conditions that have made possible so vast a destruction of the national wealth.”
National Fire Prevention Week is always the week in which Oct. 9 falls.
Each year, a specific theme is chosen and is commemorated throughout the United States.
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