NEW YORK, NY/LOS ANGELES, CA--- Citizens for Fire Safety, in conjunction with National Fire Prevention Week (October 6-10), is taking fire safety and disaster preparedness to schools across the country. This year’s theme is “It’s Fire Prevention Week! Prevent Home Fires,” and Citizens for Fire safety is making sure that students of all ages know the importance of fire safety and what they can do to make sure their homes are protected. Citizens for Fire Safety will also run a series of nationally airing Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) with tips on how to avoid home fires to make sure that both kids and their parents are talking about fire safety.

During Fire Prevention Week, Citizens for Fire Safety is teaming up with fire stations in California, Minnesota, New Jersey and others around the U.S. to visit local schools to engage and excite students about fire safety. “Fire Prevention Week is a great way to bring such an important issue to the forefront, and visiting our local schools will make learning about fire safety a fun experience for the students, and hopefully, it will get kids talking to their parents about fire safety,” said Captain Christopher Tozzi of the Mercerville New Jersey Fire Company.

The firefighters will give the students a full demonstration of the fire truck and give the students practical fire safety tips that they can use to make sure they have fire safe homes. The experience will be capped off with a fire-safety poster contest. Each of the students is invited to take part in the competition in which they design a poster about preventing home fires and are eligible to win a $500 dollar scholarship from the Citizens for Fire Safety Institute. “Cienega Elementary is so excited to have Citizens for Fire Safety bring our local firefighters to the school. It’s a fun way to teach such an important lesson in a way that the kids can understand,” said Elizabeth Lehmann, Title I and School Improvement Coordinator of Cienega Elementary in Los Angeles, CA.

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. 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.

Citizens for Fire Safety is a coalition of fire professionals, educators, burn centers, doctors, fire departments and industry leaders, united to ensure that our country  is protected by the highest standards of fire safety. For more information about Fire Prevention Week or Citizens for Fire Safety, please visit www.CFFSI.org.