The Fallen Firefighter Memorial event on Sunday also kicked off the Lakewood’s participation in National Fire Prevention week.

It’s a tradition dating back to 1925, when the city’s joined other communities are the country to mark the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire.

At Sunday’s event, Horace Mann Elementary School student Sydney Wilhelmy shared his award-winning essay, stressing the importance of knowing of an alternative exit in the event of a fire.

Firefighters will spend the week visiting schools in Lakewood to teach students about fire safety and show off some fire equipment.

“This is the kick-off for Fire Prevention Week,” said fire chief Scott Gilman. “We want to focus on schools, where we can interact with the students. Since we’ve implemented this, we’ve seen a reduction in the number of fires caused by kids playing with matches.”

Also, next month, firefighters will visit the homes of as many as 80 senior households and replace the batteries in their smoke detector, as part of the national “Change Your Clock, Change Your Batteries” campaign.

That initiative is slated to begin Nov. 3.