NFPA announces "Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape!" as theme for Fire Prevention Week

FALLBROOK – The National Fire Protection Association has announced “Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape” as the theme for Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 6-12. This year’s campaign recognizes the everyday people who motivate their households to develop and practice a home fire escape plan; these seemingly basic behaviors can have life-saving impact.

“This year’s campaign works to celebrate people of all ages who learn about home fire escape planning and practice, bring that information home, and spur their families to action,” Lorraine Carli, vice president of outreach and advocacy at NFPA, said. “From young students who learn about the campaign at school to parents who attend a community event like a fire station open house - all of them truly are heroes because they’re taking steps to make their households much, much safer from fire.”

“Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape” also focuses on what a home escape plan entails and the value of practicing it. These messages are more important than ever, particularly because today’s homes burn faster than ever. Carli said that synthetic fibers used in modern home furnishings, along with the fact that newer homes tend to be built with more open spaces and unprotected lightweight construction, are contributing factors to the increased burn rate.

“People tend to underestimate their risk to fire, particularly at home. That overconfidence lends itself to a complacency toward home escape planning and practice,” Carli said. “But in a fire situation, we’ve seen time and again that advance planning can make a potentially life-saving difference.”

A home escape plan includes working smoke alarms on every level of the home, in every bedroom and near all sleeping areas. It also includes two ways out of every room, usually a door and a window, with a clear path to an outside meeting place like a tree, light pole or mailbox that’s a safe distance from the home. Home escape plans should be practiced twice a year by all members of the household.

For more information about Fire Prevention Week and “Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape,” along with a wealth of resources to help promote the campaign locally, visit http://www.fpw.org.

NFPA has been the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week since 1922. 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 declaring a national observance during that week every year since 1925. Visit http://www.firepreventionweek.org for more safety information.

Founded in 1896, NFPA is a global, nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. The association delivers information and knowledge through more than 300 consensus codes and standards, research, training, education, outreach and advocacy and by partnering with others who share an interest in furthering the NFPA mission. For more information visit http://www.nfpa.org. All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed online for free at http://www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.

Submitted by NFPA.