ADDRESS, FIRE DEPARTMENT INSTRUCTORS'
CONFERENCE

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

March 24, 1964

I am pleased to have the opportunity to return to Memphis and
again address the Fire Department Instructors Conference. For my
second look at FDIC, I note another four-day conference packed with
program items of tremendous significance. These are concerned with
reducing the annual tragic loss of life and destruction of property by
fire.

There is perhaps no need to point out that assembled in this audi-
torium is the cream of the crop, so to speak, of this nation's fire pre-
vention, fire protection and fire suppression enthusiasts. I use the
descriptive term "enthusiasts" advisedly. There is no more dedicated
group of people anywhere than those of the fire service like yourselves.
You are imbued with the humanitarian zeal to hold in check the serious
economic drain on this Nation's resources caused by fire. The fact that
you have assembled in this auditorium is evidence that the fire service
of America is aware of its responsibility and that you desire an oppor-
tunity to gain professional knowledge.

Since the success of this program, now in its infancy, is going to be
determined by how much new knowledge you take home with you on
Friday, it might be worthwhile to look at the fire statistics for the past
year. According to the National Fire Protection Association, fires in
1963 cost 11, 800 lives and destroyed $1, 760, 000, 000 in tangibles, the
highest in our nation's history. Reducing the economic drain on this
nation's resources is the reason this conference is of such significance.
It is why you must go away from here on Friday with added knowledge
and inspiration to cope with the proportionate share of the fire loss
that occurred in your city and in your State. Most of the lives lost
were in residential fires, principally women and children. The largest
loss of life in a single incident in 1963, according to NFPA, occurred
in my State, a fact of which I am not proud. This was the commercial
airplane that crashed at Elkton in December, which claimed 82 lives.

It is fruitless to "view with alarm" without offering suggestions for
improvement. Here we come to a delicate situation because one can
only talk about that which one knows, and I know only what we have
done in my State of Maryland in an effort to keep fire losses to a
minimum. Please accept my statements about what Maryland has
done as facts of history, rather than boastfulness....

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