“America’s Burning” Published (1971)

“America’s Burning” Published (1971)

In 1971, President Richard Nixon assembled a 20-member blue-ribbon panel of experts in the field of fire protection to study the country’s alarming fire problem and the related needs of the American fire services. Chaired by Richard E. Bland, an associate professor at Pennsylvania State University, the group became known as the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control (NCFPC). The NCFPC and its staff published a report titled America Burning on May 4, 1973. Included in the report was the NCFPC’s recommendation to establish a permanent U.S. Fire Administration “to provide a national focus for the Nation’s fire problem, and to promote a comprehensive program with adequate funding to reduce life and property loss from fire.”[2] The report further identified several deficiencies in the area of quality fire training across the country including the absence of a systematic method to exchange information among fire educators and fire agencies. In response to those deficiencies, the NCFPC made four specific recommendations: 1. The establishment of a National Fire Academy to provide specialized training in areas important to the fire services and to assist state and local jurisdictions in their training programs.[3] 2. That the proposed National Fire Academy assume the role of developing, gathering, and disseminating to state and local arson investigators, information on arson incidents and on advanced methods in arson investigations.[4] 3. That the National Fire Academy be organized as a division of the proposed United States Fire Administration which would assume responsibility for deciding details of the Academy’s structure and administration.[5] 4. That the full cost of operating the proposed National Fire Academy and subsidizing the attendance of fire service members be borne by the Federal Government.[6] The intent of the NCFPC was to create a federal training academy that offered programs and curriculum not otherwise available to state fire training agencies and local fire departments, and was to be modeled after the FBI Academy in nearby Quantico, Virginia.[7] http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-164/issue-8/features/america-burning-study-40-years-old-forecast-the-need-for-better-fire-prevention-and-codes.html