Fire Protection in the 1960s and 1970s

In May 1973 the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control published a report on what it felt were the main issues regarding fire safety and prevention. Some of the major areas of contention were the need for better training and education for firefighters, more emphasis placed on fire prevention and education of the public regarding fire safety, advancement in the techniques and equipment used in firefighting, better fire protection features in buildings, and decreasing the amount of flammable materials within homes. According to this report, 12,000 people lose their lives every year in fire related incidents, roughly 300,000 are injured, and more that $11 billion is resources are lost each year.1

As of 1974 the United States had the highest per capita death and property loss rates of any industrialized nation. The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 formed and funded some of the much needed fire safety and prevention organizations. The Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 outlined the formation of the first National Fire Academy in order to facilitate more formalized training and education of fire service professionals. A Technology Development Program was also begun in order to develop, test, and evaluate equipment used in fire protection. A National Fire Database in which all information regarding the prevention, control, occurrence, and results of fire related incidents could be catalogued and evaluated came out of the 1974 Act.2

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reported in the thirteenth EDition of its Fire Protection Handbook the most common causes of fire between the years 1961 and 1965. Some of the most common causes were heating and cooking equipment, smoking and matches, electrical, and open flames and sparks. In the late 60s the NFPA was recommending the use of automatic sprinklers, fire-resistive materials, automatic fire detection systems, proper fire emergency planning, and construction features that would restrict the spread of fire as the best ways to reduce the devastating statistics of death, injury, and property loss to fire.3

1National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, America Burning, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973).

2U.S. Census, Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1974).

3George H. Tryon, ed., Fire Protection Handbook, 13th ed., (Boston: National Fire Protection Association, 1969), 1-15.