International Firefighters' Day (IFFD) is observed on

May 4 Events Pre-1600 * 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull ''Licet ecclesiae catholicae''. * 1415 – Religious reformer John Wycliffe is condemned a ...

, in order to honour firefighters for their service internationally, remember firefighters who lost their lives during service and to commemorate firefighters killed in the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. It was established after a proposal by female Australian firefighter, JJ Edmondson, was made on January 4, 1999, following the deaths of five

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

s fighting a

bushfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

in Australia on 2 December, 1998.

Proposal and establishment

On December 2 1998, firefighters of the Geelong West Fire Brigade responded to a call for assistance by other firefighters fighting a wildfire from

Linton, Victoria Linton is a town in Victoria, Australia, off Glenelg Highway. Most of the town is located in Golden Plains Shire; however, a small section is in the Shire of Pyrenees. At the , Linton and the surrounding area had a population of 580. The Cl ...

, Australia. A sudden change of wind direction caused due to a

cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface Trough (meteorology), trough of Low-pressure area, low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropica ...

led to the fire truck being engulfed by the fire on the way to refilling the water tank. As a result, five Geelong West firefighters were killed: Garry Vredeveldt, Christopher Evans, Stuart Davidson, Jason Thomas, and Matthew Armstrong. This incident eventually led to the proposal for an International Firefighters' Day.

Activities

Sound off ritual

A "sound off" occurs at

noon Noon (also known as noontime or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for '' meridiem'', literally 12:00 midday), 12 p.m. (for ''post meridiem'', literally "after midday"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour cl ...

local time on the first Sunday of

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May in the Southern Hemisphere is the ...

, as part of International Firefighters' Day. It involves turning on fire sirens for 30seconds, and a subsequent

moment of silence A moment of silence (also referred to as a minute's silence or a one-minute silence) is a period of silent contemplation, prayer, reflection, or meditation. Similar to flying a flag at half-mast, a moment of silence is often a gesture o ...

for one minute to commemorate all firefighters who were killed in line of duty. The sound off began in 2002, and has been continued annually.

Fire prevention

Fire prevention Fire prevention is a function of many fire departments. The goal of fire prevention is to educate the public on the precautions that should be taken to prevent potentially harmful fires from occurring. It is a proactive method of preventing fir ...

and the need for more intensive and thorough training is promoted through International Firefighters' Day, and the day is seen as an important opportunity to raise both

skill A skill is the learned or innate ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. Some examples of gen ...

s and

awareness In philosophy and psychology, awareness is the perception or knowledge of something. The concept is often synonymous with consciousness. However, one can be aware of something without being explicitly conscious of it, such as in the case of bli ...

Symbols

Red and blue ribbon

The red and blue ribbon is a symbol used for International Firefighters Day, the ribbon is long and wide, with the two separate colors, representing the elements firefighters work with, conjoined at the top. The red of the ribbon represents fire while the blue represents water. The ribbon is traditionally worn on the lapel but is not limited to the lapel.

Saint Florian

Saint Florian, regarded in the Catholic Church as the patron saint of firefighters, is another symbol of International Firefighters' Day. The saint's day (as observed in the Catholic Church) of St. Florian is May 4, hence International Firefighters' Day is also observed on May 4. This day is seen as a day to hold events such as

memorials A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, Tragedy (event), tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objec ...

fundraisers Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

References

* Diamantes, David. Fire Prevention: Inspection and Code Enforcement. 3rd ed. Cliffton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning, 2007. Print * Facts About Wind and Wildfires. The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc, 2010. Web. October 15, 2010. * International Firefighters’ Day. IFFD.NET, 2006. Web. 15 October 2010. * Klinoff, Robert. Introduction to Fire Protection. 3rd ed. Cliffton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2007. Print. * The Origins of International Firefighters’ Day. Newcastle Events, 2010. Web. October 15, 2010. * United States. U.S. Fire Administration. Fire Statistics. Sept 2010. U.S. Fire Administration. Web. October 15, 2010.

External links

IFFD site
{{fire fighting Fire service awards and honors Firefighting International observances May observances