Fire Prevention

This year National Fire Prevention Week is October 8^th –14^th.  The Wading River Fire Department dedicates October to Fire Prevention. Giving Fire Prevention talks to our local youth at all of our schools.  Showing our apparatus and reminding our family, friends, neighbors and the community to change the batteries in their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and checking to see that fire extinguisher are present and serviceable, especially in the garage and kitchen areas of their homes.   This all comes to its final conclusion at our Open House.

The Wading River Fire Department has always done a tremendous job with Fire Prevention in the community and our Open House.

We have taken the time to give some interesting facts about Fire Prevention.  Our hope is that this information can help all of us be good advocates for the Fire Service.  Family and friends always are always looking to make their homes safe for their families.

Generally speaking all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors should have their batteries replaced once a year, Fire Prevention week is usually a good time to do this.  Most manufacturers suggest replacement of a smoke detector every 8 - 10 years and the replacement of a carbon monoxide detector every 5 -7 years.  This is considered their respective End of Life.  Now, for some history. 

Fire Prevention Week commemorates the Great Chicago Fire. On the 40th anniversary (1911) of the Great Chicago Fire, the Fire Marshals Association of North America (FMANA); the oldest membership section of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), sponsored the first National Fire Prevention Day, deciding to observe the anniversary as a way to keep the public informed about the importance of fire prevention.

When President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention Week on October 4–10, 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".  

The NFPA, which has officially sponsored Fire Prevention Week since its inception, selects the annual theme for Fire Prevention Week.  NFPA has announced its theme for Fire Prevention Week 2017,: “Don’t Wait – Check the Date! Replace Smoke Alarms Every 10 Years" as the theme for  October 8-14. The NFPA has been the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week for more than 90 years.

This theme announcement coincides with the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis, which is attended by thousands of firefighters from around the world.