Fire Prevention Week 2008 will be observed October 5-11, 2008. October 5-11, 2008 is Fire Prevention Week. Theme will be made public in June. Residential fires are the leading cause of fire-related mortality. In 2003, fire departments responded to 402,000 residential fires in the United States that claimed the lives of 3,145 people and injured another 14,075 (not including firefighters). Residential fires accounted for more than $6 billion in direct property damage. On average in the United States in 2003, someone died in a fire every 134 minutes (over two hours), and someone was injured every 29 minutes (Karter 2004).   Older adults are at much higher risk for residential fire deaths when compared with the rest of the population (CDC 2004). Residential fires also disproportionately affect young children, African Americans, Native Americans, and the poorest Americans (U.S. Fire Administration 2001; Istre 2001). Smoke alarms decrease the chances of dying in a house fire by 40%-50%. However, about one-quarter of U.S. households lack working smoke alarms (Ahrens 2001).