mes age.
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when the animal kicked over a lamp, etting the
O'Leary's barn on fire and starting the p ctacular
blaze.
However the rna ive fire began, it wiftly took
it toll, burning more than 2,000 acr in ·27 hours.
The City of Chicago quickly rebuilt, however, and
with a couple of year, re ident began celebrating
their successful re toration by memorializing the
anniversary of the' fire with festivitie .
Intending to observe the fire' anniver ary with a
mor eriou commemoration, the Fir Mar hal
A ociation of North America, the olde t member-
hip ection of the National Fire Protection A so­
ciation, d cided that the 40th anniver ary of the
Great Chicago Fir hould be ob erved not with
f tivities, but in a way that.would k ep the public
informed about the importance of fir pr v ntion.
o on ct. 9, 1911, th ire Mar hal A ociation
of North America p n ored th fir t National Fir
Pr vention Day.
In 1920, Pre ident W dr.ow Wil on i u d th
fir t national Fir Prey ntion Day pr clamation.
F r more than 70 y ar ,th nonpr fit NFPA ha
officially p n ored and ltd th th me for th
nati nal comm m ration of ir Pr v ntion W k,
h noring th anniver ary f th r at Chicago ir
and u ing th v nt to incr a awar n of th
dang r of fir .
v ry y ar in 1925, th Pr id nt of th
Unit d tat ha i ned a pro larnation pronounc­
ing the unday-throu h aturday p riod in which
r
National Fire Prevention � k, observed this y or
from Oct. 9-15, has had a rather lengthy but interest­
ing history. The National Fir Protection Associa­
tion compiled th following, which it published in the
Fire af ty N ws ource.
The hi tory of ational Fire Prevention W ek
ha it root in the Great Chicago .Fire, which oc­
curred on ct. 9, 1 71. Thi tragic conflagration
killed om 30 peopl , I ft 100, 00 homeles , and
de troy d mor than 17,0 0 tructure .
The origin of th fir ha generated peculation
ince it oc urrenc ,with fact and fiction b coming
blurr d ov r th year. On popular legend ha it
that Mr . Cath rin O'L ary wa milking her cow
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Pag 2 Fire Pr vention Week uppl ment 1994