Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO named in the 2024 edition of Influencers of Fire and Safety Journal Americas

Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO, became a volunteer fireman in 1970, a career firefighter in 1972, and retired from the National Fire Academy in 2014 as the Management Science Chair. He continues to be a thinker trying to understand fire culture at the micro and macro levels from a social, political, economic, and technological point of view.

“My vision is that at some future time, firefighter morbidity and mortality will be unacceptable and rare.”
— Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO

I am the least qualified to be on this list of influencers who are Presidents, Chief Executive Officers, Directors, Founders, etc. They command people and resources and sit on boards of national and international consequence. In contrast, I am more like Oliver Twist asking “Please, sir, I want some more.”

Change is the only absolute. Individuals and groups lead, follow, and resist social, political, economic, and technological changes based on their motivation about their vision of the future that is best for them. This human drive has helped humanity survive and prosper. The consequences have also revealed the worst things humans can do to each other and the environment.

The existence of fire and humans’ ability to understand and control it has contributed to our evolution and quality of life. But unwanted fire continues to kill us, destroy our environment, and property. We are getting better at preventing and surviving fire. How much better can we get next year and beyond?

We all have a vision of the future that is based on our past and our present condition. We then add our needs, wants, and desires to our thinking and feelings which drives our behavior. Sometimes that behavior adds to or reduces the Dr. Burton A. Clark Executive Fire Officer American Fire Culture prevention and or survival of unwanted FIRE for us and or others. It can be simple, making sure all your home smoke alarms are working, or complex like passing mandatory home fire sprinkler codes, or requiring all imported products to meet UL standards.

My concern today is that humans continue to see fire deaths as an act of God and firefighters’ deaths as part of the job and heroic. We fail to see the role we all play in creating our fire culture. That culture is a combination of High-Tech plus High Touch. Remember Chornobyl, the World Trade Center, Deep Water Horizon, Grenfell, lithium-ion batteries, PFAS, and global warming are all human-made. Change based on hindsight is limited and easily compared to the challenge of foresight. Leadership has always been about the future. For example, who is studying the impact of a new polymer material that is stronger than steel, but light as plastic, on our future fire culture?

My vision is that at some future time, firefighter morbidity and mortality will be unacceptable and rare. When this is achieved fire risk to humans will be dramatically reduced and our quality of life in the 21st century will be better. The fire and safety industry must do a better job leading the way.

[ORIGINALLY PRINTED JANUARY 2025, IN Fire and Safety Journal Americas, Influencers 2025 edition REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION]