Wildland-Urban Interface Conference 2025
The IAFC has endorsed a comprehensive approach to fire prevention, including aggressive public education; promotion of smoke detectors, fire sprinklers and other forms of built in fire protection; exit drills and evacuation planning and effective code enforcement. This approach to fire safety was initiated in 1972 with the development of the federally funded report entitled “America Burning.”
Fire professionals embarked upon a mission of fire safety and professional management technique to reduce the staggering fire losses that were occurring in country at that time. The success of the America Burning logic has resulted in significant reductions in fires and fire deaths. The number of fire deaths has dropped from approximately 12,000 per year to less than 6,000 in the recent years.