A few seconds could be the difference between a safe escape or a tragedy during a fire, and fire prevention week is one step to ensure that people are educated about fire safety.
Fire Prevention Week is observed each year around the week of Oct. 8, in commemoration of The Great Chicago Fire. According to the National Fire Protection Association, the leading cause of house fires is unattended cooking in the kitchen, and that is the focus of this year’s fire prevention week. The Wausau Fire Department says in the last three years, they have responded to over 24 kitchen related fires. Inspector Brad Ludwig says these types of fires are preventable.
“It is a strain on our resources, a kitchen fire, we treat that as a large structure fire at any given time until we do check it out. kitchen fires can spread easily.