America Burning Revisited National Workshop – Tyson’s Corner, Virginia November 30 - December 2, 1987 This document was scanned from hard copy to portable document format (PDF) and edited to 99.5% accuracy. Some formatting errors not detected during the optical character recognition process may appear. Table of Contents Section I Foreword ........................................................................................................ 1 Section II . Introduction ................................................................................................ 3 Purpose ...................................................................................................................... 3 Workshop structure ................................................................................................... 4 Conduct ...................................................................................................................... 5 Section III . Current and Projected Future Fire Protection Environment ...... 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 7 General trends ........................................................................................................... 7 Fire experience .......................................................................................................... 8 Fire service environment ........................................................................................ 12 Declining demand for fire suppression services .................................................... 13 Increasing demand for emergency medical services ............................................. 16 Increasing demand for hazardous materials protection ....................................... 16 Increasing demand for disaster preparedness ....................................................... 17 Declining community resources .............................................................................. 18 Regionalization ........................................................................................................ 19 Summary of trends .................................................................................................. 19 Section IV . Executive Summary ................................................................................ 21 Task Force 1 The Nation’s Fire Problem ............................................................. 21 Task Force 2 The Fire Services: Operations ....................................................... 23 Task Force 3 . The Fire Services: Management and Administration ................ .24 Task Force 4 . Fire and the Built Environment .................................................... 26 Task Force 5 . Fire and the Rural Wildlands Environment ................................. 28 Task Force 6 . Fire Prevention ............................................................................... 29 Task Force 7 . Preparing for the 21st Century ...................................................... 30 Summary .................................................................................................................. 32 Section V . Workshop Task Force Reports .............................................................. 33 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 33 America Burning . The Past (Amabili) .................................................................. 35 America Burning . The Present (Bragdon) ............................................................ 39 America Burning . The Future (Granito) .............................................................. 43 Task Force 1 . The Nation’s Fire Problem ............................................................. 49 Introduction ................................................................................................... 49 Background .................................................................................................... 49 Critical force recommendations .................................................................... 51 Task force recommendations ........................................................................ 54 Supplementary report to Task Force 1 ......................................................... 58 America Burning Revisited i Task Force 2 - The Fire Services: Operations ........................................................ 61 Introduction ................................................................................................... 61 Background .................................................................................................... 61 Critical issues ................................................................................................. 62 Task force recommendations ........................................................................ 65 Task Force 3 - The Fire Services: Management and Administration .................. 67 Introduction ................................................................................................... 67 Background .................................................................................................... 67 Critical issues ................................................................................................. 69 Task force recommendations ........................................................................ 72 Task Force 4 - Fire and the Built environment ..................................................... 75 Introduction ................................................................................................... 75 Background .................................................................................................... 75 Critical force recommendations .................................................................... 77 Task force recommendations ........................................................................ 79 Other recommended solutions ...................................................................... 81 Task Force 5 - Fire and the Rural Wildlands Environment ................................. 83 Introduction ................................................................................................... 83 Background .................................................................................................... 83 Critical issues ................................................................................................. 84 Task force recommendations ........................................................................ 87 Task Force 6 - Fire Prevention ............................................................................... 91 Introduction ................................................................................................... 91 Background .................................................................................................... 92 Critical issues ................................................................................................. 93 Task force recommendations ........................................................................ 95 Other possible solutions ................................................................................ 97 Task Force 7 - Preparing for the 21st Century ...................................................... 99 Introduction ................................................................................................... 99 Background .................................................................................................... 99 Critical force recommendations .................................................................. 101 Task force recommendations ...................................................................... 104 Other possible solutions .............................................................................. 104 Section VI - Appendices .............................................................................................. 107 Appendix A. Project Steering Committee ......................................................... 107 Appendix B. America Burning Revisited Participants .................................... 109 Appendix C. Status Report on the 90 Recommendations from America Burning .................................................................. 115 ii Table of Contents Section I Foreword On November 30 through December 2,1987, the U.S. Fire Administration/Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted a three-day workshop on AMERICA BURNING REVISITED in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia. Individuals from major profes­ sional businesses and governmental organizations with an interest in fire protection were invited to attend the workshop. The participants included several individuals who participated in the original work of the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, completed in 1973, as well as current members of Congress with oversight responsibility for the U.S. Fire Administration and the National Fire Academy. The purpose of the workshop was to achieve a consensus, if possible, on the nature of the current U.S. fire problem, review and comment of the progress against fire since the original America Burning Report of 1973, and to develop recommendations for local, State and Federal efforts to reduce further the life and property loss due to fire. The U.S. Fire Administration planned to use the results of this workshop