Fire Prevention Week

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The National Fire Prevention Week is observed in the United States and Canada, beginning on the first Sunday in October and ending the following Saturday, which is also designated Fire Service Recognition Day. In the United States, the observance was begun with a proclimation signed in 1925 by President Calvin Coolidge.

In Canada, the observance is meants to express appreciation for the many public services rendered by members of the Canadian fire service. The National Fire Protection Association continues to be the international sponsor of the holiday.

[edit] History

The Fire Prevention Week commemorates the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. When President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention Week on October 4 - October 10, 1925, he noted that in the previous year some 15,000 lives were lost to fire in the United States. Calling the loss "startling", Coolidge's proclamation stated: "This waste results from the conditions which 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 which have made possible so vast a destruction of the national wealth".^[1] Fire Service Recognition Day was first incorporated into the Governor-General’s proclamation of Fire Prevention Week in 1977.