CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Members of Team Charleston will recognize National Fire Prevention Week Oct. 7 to 13 following the theme "Practice Your Escape Plan."
National Fire Prevention Week has been recognized since 1925, but its roots date back even farther.
October 9, 1871, sparked a proverbial fire throughout North America to further fire safety in the United States and Canada.
The roots of Fire Prevention Week are set in the great Chicago Fire, which occurred on that day. Later, a Presidential proclamation set the time frame for Fire Prevention Week. Since then, a drive to save lives has continued.
The Great Chicago Fire ravaged the city of Chicago in 1871. That tragic event killed more than 300 people, left 100,000 people homeless and destroyed more than 17,000 structures over 2,000 acres in 27 hours.
One popular legend was that Mrs. O'Leary was milking her cow when the animal kicked over a lamp, setting the O'Leary's barn on fire and starting the spectacular blaze. This story, however, has recently been proven by historians to be just a fable and untrue.
The city of Chicago quickly rebuilt, however, and within a couple of years, residents began celebrating their successful restoration to memorialize the anniversary of the fire with festivities.
Intending to observe the Great Chicago Fire's anniversary with a more serious commemoration, the Fire Marshals Association of North America, the oldest membership section of the National Fire Protection Association, decided the 40th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, Oct. 9, 1911, should be observed not with festivities, but in a way that would keep the public informed about the importance of fire protection.
This was expanded to Fire Prevention Week in 1922. The non-profit NFPA, which has officially sponsored Fire Prevention Week since its inception, selects the annual theme for Fire Prevention Week.
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 to 10, 1925.
He noted 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. NFPA continues today to make National Fire Prevention Week a priority and counts on the participation and efforts of tens of thousands of fire and safety professionals, emergency volunteers and other individuals working to reduce the risk of fire and the toll it takes on our society