October Is Fire Prevention Month
CHICAGO (CBS) - There will be a parade of firefighters and firefighting equipment to honor those killed in the line of duty, Tuesday night in the south suburbs.
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This is the 15th year for South Holland's Parade of Lights. It began as a way to honor the memory of South Holland firefighter Doug Maichach who died in the line of duty 21 years ago and all firefighters who perished on the job.
South Holland Fire Chief Don Bettenhausen says the parade will have at least 50 fire trucks, ambulances and other fire vehicles with their lights flashing but no sirens.
This year, there will be a break from tradition. Instead of the parade traveling from a South Holland church to a fire station in the southern suburb, it'll wind its way from a South Holland church to the fire station in Homewood where firefighter Brian Carey worked before he was killed in the line of duty last March.
Chief Bettenhausen says that, if you see the parade tonight, keep in mind that, "firefighters respond to hazards around us every day, it's the unknown, keep a vigilant thought and prayer for those who have died in the line of duty."
Within Fire Prevention Month, Oct. 3-9 is Fire Prevention Week. The period was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, in which more than 250 people died, some 100,000 people were left homeless, and nearly all the buildings were destroyed on land stretching from DeKoven Street on the south to Fullerton Parkway on the north.
President Woodrow Wilson instituted the first National Fire Prevention Day in 1920.
WBBM Newsradio 780's Bernie Tafoya contributed to this report.
