What
will you do to protect your family from fire during Fire Prevention week this
year?
By
Raymond Kay
Acting
Chief, Orland Fire Protection District
Bringing
special public attention to protecting lives and property from the dangers of
fire has been a national campaign since 1920 in the United States called Fire
Prevention Week which this year begins October 9 through Oct. 15.
Fire
prevention week originated in 1922 and is always scheduled for the week that
includes October 9th. In 1871 on October 8th the
Great Chicago Fire was started. The fire burned for some period of time
but the most significant damage took place on October 9th.
This conflagration killed more than 250 people, left approximately 100,000
people homeless, destroyed over 17,000 structures and burned more than 2,000
acres. This tragic fire became the driving force behind the Fire
Prevention Week initiative.
The
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) fire prevention theme this year,
Protect Your Family From Fire, speaks to three recent close calls. On
three different days over the course of the last three months families narrowly
escaped from the dangers of fire.
In
July, seven residents, adults and children alike were startled from their sleep
well after midnight by several good Samaritans who saw that the attached garage
was well involved in fire. The strangers along with several Orland Park
Police officers woke the residents and helped them to safety. The fire in
this case was only minutes away from spreading into the children’s bedroom when
they escaped.
On
a beautiful August Saturday, just after 12 pm, a fire erupts in the garage of a
four unit townhouse. The resident is awake and moving about in a
seemingly normal day. The fire moves so quickly that he escapes with only
the clothes on his back. Two of the four attached units are damaged by
the fire. Most importantly, nobody was injured from the smoke and flames.
It
is Patriot Day, September 11, the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks
upon our country. In between a number of memorial services, 8:30 in the
morning fire strikes in the basement of another townhouse, the family is still
asleep. An adult smells smoke, realizes that the house is on fire, calls
911 for help and wakes other adults and the children guiding them out of the
burning structure. Luckily, there are no injuries. In this case,
there are no working smoke detectors.
Three
groups of people were fortunate this summer; they all experienced a close call
narrowly avoiding injury or death from smoke and fire. The incidents
shared here all took place at different times of day. Some residents were
fast asleep and others wide awake. The fires started in different parts
of the home.
Luckily
the only common thread among these fires is that nobody was injured. All
of these fires could have had very different, tragic outcomes.
Fire
can strike at any time. You have the opportunity to prevent fires,
quickly detect smoke or fire and the ability plan your escape. Use
resources like the Orland Fire Protection District website (www.orlandfire.org) or the NFPA website (www.nfpa.org) to learn more about:
-
A
Family Fire Safety Checklist – where adults and kids can play a role in your
home’s fire safety
-
Smoke
Detectors – Change your batteries twice per year
-
Practice
your escape plane – Exercise your plan with the whole family twice each year
Happily,
the fires from this summer did not result in any injuries. Visit the
websites provided, download your free information and please take the advice of
the NFPA - Protect Your Family From Fire.
END
