National Fire Prevention week begins today and today is also Firefighters Memorial Day with flags flying at half-staff until sunset.
The Chadron Volunteer Fire Department is continuing its long-standing tradition of marking the start of the week with an open house and free will donation spaghetti feed from 10-2:00.
The open house includes displays of firefighting and emergency response equipment, information on fire prevention, and a chance to visit with firefighters.
The Chadron department currently has 44 active members and 42 senior active members.
In the 12 months ending September 1st, they answered 478 calls including 42 fire calls, 4 mutual aid fire calls, and 281 rescue calls totaling 4,265 man-hours. Members also spent 2,373 man-hours in training.
This year’s Fire Prevention Week theme is Lean the Sounds of Fire Safety. It’s designed to educate people, especially children, about the different sounds smoke and carbon monoxide alarms make. For more information, go to firepreventionweek.org.
Fire Prevention Week was first observed in 1922 with President Calvin Coolidge issuing the first formal proclamation in 1925. It’s the longest-running public health observance in the country.
It’s always the week that includes Oct 9th to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire of 1876 while Firefighters Memorial Day is traditionally the first Sunday of October.