The theme for the 2008 Fire Prevention Week, scheduled for Oct. 5-11, is “Preventing Home Fires”, with cooking fires being the number one cause of home fires and home fire injuries

On Saturday Oct. 4 as a prelude to Fire Prevention Week, the Coon Creek Fire Department will be holding an open house at the fire station from noon to 4 p.m. Residents are encouraged to stop by the fire station for free hot dogs and pop. Fire department volunteers will be holding a fire extinguisher and smoke detector demonstration, as well as allowing people to check out the department apparatus. Free anniversary T-shirts will be given away while supplies last and the department is considering holding a CPR class sign up, which was still tentative at press time.

All area fire departments are busy preparing for Fire Prevention Week and along with it an opportunity to educate students at in Westby, Coon Valley and Cashton schools about fire safety and prevention.

The Cashton Fire Department provided students the chance to check out what happens when fire breaks out by bringing the Monroe County smoke house to the elementary school on Thursday, Sept. 25. On Oct. 9 the education continues in Cashton with department volunteers visiting the schools to talk about fire safety and working with kids on how to search out alternative exits in the event of a structual fire.

The Coon Creek Fire Department will be visiting the Coon Valley Elementary School on Tuesday, Oct. 7 and having the kindergarten class visit the fire station in the morning.

The Westby-Christiana Fire Department will be visiting Westby Elementary School on Friday, Oct. 10 at 11 a.m. and the Westby kindergarten classes will visit the station from 9-10:30 a.m. Last year students visiting the fire station were treated to a real life demonstration of personnel teamwork when the fire department was paged out for an actual fire at the Heartland Country Cooperative feed mill. Students were safely escorted into the fire department meeting room until the fire trucks and firemen were out of the building, before walking back to the school.

In 2007, there were an estimated 399,000 reported home structure fires resulting in 2,865 civilian deaths and 13,600 civilian injuries and $7.4 billion in direct damage in the United States. Home fires caused 84 percent of civilian deaths and 77 percent of injuries.

Heating equipment and smoking are the leading causes of civilian home fire deaths, with January and December being the peak months for home fires and home fire deaths.

More than half of all home fire deaths result from incidents reported between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., but only 20 percent of home fires occur between these hours.

Children under 5 and older adults face the highest risk of home fire death, but young adults face a higher risk of home fire injury.