FDNY Fire Prevention Bureau Graduation Caps Week's Activities
National Fire Prevention Week 2010 started Oct. 5 with children taking the Junior Firefighter and EMT pledge and concluded with an Oct. 8 graduation ceremony.
New York City's fire department, known as FDNY, began National Fire Prevention Week 2010 on Oct. 5 with about 300 children taking the Junior Firefighter and EMT pledge administered by Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano and Chief of Department Edward Kilduff. The weeks' activities concluded with an Oct. 8 graduation ceremony for the Bureau of Fire Prevention.
"The best way to fight fires is to prevent them," Cassano said during the ceremony at New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn. "And what you do saves lives." The graduates included Fire Prevention Inspector James Beddia, whose brother Robert died in the line of duty Aug. 18, 2007.
"You have a vital role in making the city safer," Kilduff said, "and if there's one word that describes this group, it's professional."
FDNY's Office of Fire Prevention conducts more than 158,000 inspections and issues more than 39,000 safety violations annually.
National Fire Prevention Week was established in 1922 to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire on Oct. 8, 1871. Fire departments nationwide mark the anniversary during the second week of October as they remind their communities about fire safety.