This week, Oct. 5-11, is National Fire Prevention Week, a good time to remind homeowners about smoke alarms.  In a report by the National Fire Protection Agency three of five home fire deaths in 2007-11 resulted from fires in properties without working smoke alarms. The report states that "the risk of dying in reported home structure fires is cut in half in homes with working smoke alarms." 

Smoke is like an anesthetic. Rather than awakening you, it will put you into a deeper sleep. Most fire deaths occur at night and are due to smoke inhalation, not fire.  Many firefighters/paramedics will tell you that when they have been out on a residential fire, they observed that smoke-alarm failures usually were a result of missing, disconnected or dead batteries.  If the smoke alarm in a kitchen is sounding too often, move it to the adjacent room. If space constraints make it necessary to have a smoke alarm within 10-20 feet of the kitchen stove, use either a photoelectric alarm or an alarm with a hush feature that can be temporarily silenced without disabling the alarm.

Smoke alarms should be tested at least once a month. Conventional (not long-life) batteries should be replaced at least once a year. Follow manufacturer's instructions or follow these guidelines:

•Mount on the ceiling or up high on the wall, but keep detectors about 4 inches from the corner where the ceiling and wall meet. The corner is a "dead-air space" where the detector won't be in the path of smoke travel.

•For high-pitched or "cathedral" ceilings, mount the detectors 3 feet from the highest point. Avoid placement in the path of AC or heater vents.

•One detector outside each sleeping area.

•One detector on each level of your home.

•An additional detector in each bedroom.

About Fire Prevention Week

Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire, the tragic 1871 conflagration that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres. The fire began on October 8, but continued into and did most of its damage on October 9, 1871.

Commemorating a conflagration

According to popular legend, the fire broke out after a cow - belonging to Mrs. Catherine O'Leary - kicked over a lamp, setting first the barn, then the whole city on fire. Chances are you've heard some version of this story yourself; people have been blaming the Great Chicago Fire on the cow and Mrs. O'Leary, for more than 130 years. But recent research by Chicago historian Robert Cromie has helped to debunk this version of events.

The 'Moo' myth

Like any good story, the 'case of the cow' has some truth to it. The great fire almost certainly started near the barn where Mrs. O'Leary kept her five milking cows. But there is no proof that O'Leary was in the barn when the fire broke out - or that a jumpy cow sparked the blaze. Mrs. O'Leary herself swore that she'd been in bed early that night, and that the cows were also tucked in for the evening.

But if a cow wasn't to blame for the huge fire, what was? Over the years, journalists and historians have offered plenty of theories. Some blamed the blaze on a couple of neighborhood boys who were near the barn sneaking cigarettes. Others believed that a neighbor of the O'Leary's may have started the fire. Some people have speculated that a fiery meteorite may have fallen to earth on October 8, starting several fires that day - in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Chicago.

The biggest blaze that week

While the Great Chicago Fire was the best-known blaze to start during this fiery two-day stretch, it wasn't the biggest. That distinction goes to the Peshtigo Fire, the most devastating forest fire in American history. The fire, which also occurred on October 8th, 1871, and roared through Northeast Wisconsin, burning down 16 towns, killing 1,152 people, and scorching 1.2 million acres before it ended.

Historical accounts of the fire say that the blaze began when several railroad workers clearing land for tracks unintentionally started a brush fire. Before long, the fast-moving flames were whipping through the area 'like a tornado,' some survivors said. It was the small town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin that suffered the worst damage. Within an hour, the entire town had been destroyed.

Nine decades of fire prevention

Those who survived the Chicago and Peshtigo fires never forgot what they'd been through; both blazes produced countless tales of bravery and heroism. But the fires also changed the way that firefighters and public officials thought about fire safety. On the 40th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, the Fire Marshals Association of North America (today known as the International Fire Marshals Association), decided that the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire should henceforth be observed not with festivities, but in a way that would keep the public informed about the importance of fire prevention. The commemoration grew incrementally official over the years.

In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson issued the first National Fire Prevention Day proclamation, and since 1922, Fire Prevention Week has been observed on the Sunday through Saturday period in which October 9 falls. According to the National Archives and Records Administration's Library Information Center, Fire Prevention Week is the longest running public health and safety observance on record. The President of the United States has signed a proclamation proclaiming a national observance during that week every year since 1925.