St. Louis Fire Department News

 

Fire Prevention Week is celebrated annually to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire. The fire burned for two days on October 8 - 9, 1871,  and killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 people homeless, and destroyed more than 17,000 buildings.

The tragedy inspired nationwide reform, spurring new fire safety codes and public awareness campaigns. Each October, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) sponsors a fire prevention campaign to highlight the importance of fire safety education. This year's theme focuses on ways to keep homes fire safe from the leading causes of home fires, injuries, and deaths. The campaign also provides burn prevention safety tips. Keeping our homes safe from fire and preventing burn injuries is a healthy change we can make happen.

FACTS ABOUT FIRE

  • U.S. fire departments respond to approximately 400,000 home fires annually

  • The home fires kill almost 2,900 people

  • Someone is injured in a home fire every 39 minutes

  • Roughly eight people die from home fires daily

  • A fire department responds to a home fire every 79 seconds

  • 84% of all fire deaths result from home fires

  • 63% of reported home fire deaths happen in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms

  • About 1/3 of home fires and deaths happen in December, January, and February.

"Reproduced from NFPA's Fire Prevention Week Web site, www.firepreventionweek.org. ©2009 NFPA."

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This Page Last Modified: 10/07/09