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October 7, 2009

Anonymous The Kokomo Tribune Wed Oct 07, 2009, 04:55 PM EDT

On Oct. 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire broke out, killing more than 250 people and leaving 100,000 homeless.

For nearly 100 years, the fire’s anniversary has been marked with efforts to spread the word about fire dangers – Fire Prevention Week, it now is called.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, U.S. fire departments responded to 386,500 home fires last year. Someone was injured in a home fire every 40 minutes, roughly eight people died in home fires every day during 2008.

Cooking continues to be the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries, but smoking materials caused one in every four home fire deaths.

The experts say smoke alarms that are properly installed and maintained play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries. They say having a working smoke alarm cuts the chances of dying in a fire in half.

A telephone survey last year found that 96 percent of U.S. households had at least one smoke alarm, but firefighters responding to home fires over a four-year period found no working smoke alarm in two out of every five houses.

Nearly two-thirds of reported home fire deaths in 2003-2006 resulted from fires in homes with no working smoke alarms. In more than half of the cases in which the smoke alarms were not working, the batteries were missing or had been disconnected.

According to a survey by the National Fire Protection Association, nearly two out of three Americans has a home fire escape plan, but only one in four has actually practiced it.

A third of American households that made an estimate thought they would have at least six minutes before a fire in their home would become life-threatening, but the experts say the actual time available is often less.

Take time today to make sure the smoke alarms in your house are working, and make a plan for what you will do when the alarms go off.

– Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, and Kokomo Tribune

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