Fire Prevention Week Sparks Preparedness

Every October marks Fire Prevention Month, with the main focus taking place the week of Oct. 9-15. The National Fire Protection Association creates a campaign to help educate families on the dangers of fire and suggests tips on how they can be prevented.

Fire Prevention Week was created to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 people without homes, destroyed more than 17,4000 structures throughout Chicago and burned more than 2,000 acres of land, according to the association's educational material.

"The fire began on Oct. 8, but continued into and did most of its damage on October 9, 1871," according to the association.

This year's theme for fire prevention week is, "Protect Your Family From Fire!"

So that everyone can be prepared, the association has compiled a to-do list for children and parents to follow. Work together to make sure your house is protected.

The National Fire Protection suggests:

• Children practice keeping a clear path to the exit of their bedroom and other rooms in the house. 
• Parents should map out an evacuation plan and practice it as a family, and decide on an outside meeting spot so that everyone knows where to go once they've made it out of the home.

For a full list of tips click here, or download the PDF in the images section of this article.

According to the association, two-thirds of home fire deaths happen in homes without smoke detectors, or in homes where the smoke alarms aren't working—with about one in five smoke alarm failures due to dead batteries.

Therefore, one of the top suggestions is to have your children check to make sure there is a detector on every level of the home, inside each bedroom and outside of every sleeping area. Parents should then test the detectors to make sure they work properly, and so that the children can hear the noise that the alarms make.

To cut the risk of smoke detector failure, the association suggests checking smoke alarms once a month, and to make a habit of changing batteries at least once a year. The Consumer Product Safety Commission suggests changing the batteries twice a year using daylight savings as a guide. Most smoke alarms will "chirp" warning that the battery is low. If this happens, the association suggests replacing the battery right away.

For more information visit the National Fire Protection Association's Web site.