GRAVETTE -- Students at Glenn Duffy Elementary School celebrated Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 4-10, with visits from the firefighters at the Gravette Fire Department.
Every year the local firefighters teach pre-K to second-grade students at Glenn Duffy the importance of fire prevention. They receive handouts, visit the fire prevention training house and see the ambulances and fire trucks. They learn about the equipment on the vehicles and how it is used. In the "smoke house," they experience a simulated fire and learn how to react. They are also taught the importance of having fire escape plans and designated meeting places.
Fire Prevention Week is observed each year during the week in which Oct. 9 falls. It commemorates the Great Chicago Fire, which burned from Sunday, Oct. 8, to early Tuesday, Oct. 10, 1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of Chicago and left more than 100,000 residents homeless.
The key message of this year's Fire Prevention Week is to keep your family safe by installing smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area and on every level of your home, including the basement. Larger homes may need more alarms.
Roughly half of home fire deaths result from fires reported between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., when most people are asleep. Having a working smoke alarm cuts the chances of dying in a fire by 50 percent.
Community on 10/21/2015