Arson Conference Of USFA to Provide Useful Suggestions
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Billed as the most complete antiarson program ever undertaken in the nation, the United States Fire Administration’s Fifth Annual Conference in New Orleans Jan. 21-23 is designed to provide ideas the conferees can use in their own communities.
The conference, titled “Arson: America’s Malignant Crime,” will feature bull sessions at the end of the Monday and Tuesday afternoon sessions. Participants in each day’s formal sessions will be at different tables throughout the room so that conference attendees can talk with them informally while enjoying refreshments.
“We plan to provide everyone with practical information on effective anti-arson programs,” U.S. Fire Administrator Gordon Vickery stressed. “The conference will cover every facet of arson prevention. It will be broken into four general sessions, plus technical and program demonstrations and a review of USFA activities.”
Multimedia program
Chief William McCrossen of the New Orleans Fire Department will be the conference host. His department has developed a multimedia program covering arson, the New Orleans Fire Department, and the City of New Orleans. A segment will be presented prior to the opening of each day’s activities and at the conclusion of the formal sessions Wednesday afternoon.
The conference will open Monday morning with Lieutenant Governor Thomas P. O’Neill of Massachusetts as the keynote speaker. Joseph A. Moreland, USFA deputy administrator, will moderate a “Review of Federal Arson Programs,” which will feature the reports of 12 panel members.
The first day’s luncheon speaker will be Robert W. Grant, president-elect, National Fire Prevention Association, who will discuss, “Arson, an NFPA Perspective.”
The afternoon session, chaired by Lucille V. Moore, chairwoman, San Diego County Board of Supervisors, will feature, “Arson: The Task Force Speaks.”
Arsonist to speak
First, a convicted arsonist, masked to avoid identification, will address the audience on his perspective of arson. Next, those attending will serve as a jury for a mock arson trial. There will be a judge, prosecuting and defense attorneys, the accused, witnesses, etc. The case will be presented and at its conclusion, the audience will be asked to vote—guilty or not guilty.
The trial will be followed by an “Arson Task Force Round Table” with John P. Engel, coordinator, New York City Arson Strike Force; Chief Glen King, Dallas Police Department; Chief Jack Gerard, Los Angeles City Fire Department; Ralph Jackson, Allstate Insurance Company; and Eades Hogue, chief, New Orleans Strike Force, U.S. Department of Justice, participating.
This will be a 30-minute panel discussion followed by a 30-minute period for questions from the floor.
There will be a cocktail hour Monday at 7 p.m. and dinner will follow at 8.
On Tuesday morning, the mock trial of Monday will be debriefed.
Attack on arson
Then a session, “Arson: The Attack,” will be chaired by Henry S. Dogin, administrator, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), with a number of speakers scheduled. “Management of Arson Programs” will be presented by Arnold Markle, state’s attorney, Judicial District of New Haven, Conn. “Arson Investigation and Enforcement” will be handled by Captain William Rucinski, Department of State Police, Chief Fire Marshal Division, Lansing, Mich.
The final morning speaker will be Gloria Jimenez, administrator, Federal Insurance Administration, who will discuss the “Economics of Arson.”
T. Lawrence Jones, president, American Insurance Association, New York, will discuss “The ‘AIA’ Arson Program” during the luncheon.
Tuesday afternoon, “Motivation for Arson” will be discussed by Patricia Mieszala, R.N., psychiatric burn nurse clinician at Cook County Hospital, Chicago, followed by “The Joint Council Speaks on Arson.”
USFA Activities
Then there will be a “Special Report of USFA Activities,” chaired by Administrator Vickery with speakers from the Office of Planning and Education, National Fire Data Center, Center for Fire Research, National Bureau of Standards, and the National Fire Academy all scheduled to make presentations. A round table discussion will follow the speakers.
At 10:00 p.m., “The Late Late Show,” an arson film festival, will be shown. It will include five or six short (15-20 minute) films on arson prevention.
The final session Wednesday morning, “Arson: The Solution,” will be chaired by Chief Andrew Casper of the San Francisco Fire Department. It will include presentations from a number of cities with successful anti-arson programs. Programs of Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, New Haven, Houston, and Illinois State will be featured. There will be a segment on arson detection and investigation for the small communities and rural areas.
Beginning Wednesday at noon and continuing into the afternoon, there will be program demonstrations and technical displays during a buffet lunch.
Displays planned
Technical displays will include incendiary devices, hydrocarbon detectors, Seattle’s new arson van, federal exhibits by the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureaus, an insurance industry display and one by the USFA.
“Perhaps the most important single anti-arson document ever compiled will also be available during the noon/afternoon session—anti-arson implementation kits and descriptive brochures,” Vickery said. “The kits are how-to guides for state and local officials wishing to utilize successful proven anti-arson programs. We will supply three-ring notebooks and attendees can simply select the programs of interest to them and insert them in the notebook.”
The kits will describe each of the following topics: juvenile counseling program, public education campaign, arson task force program (municipal), early warning system, tipster program, arson detection/investigation, arson task force (state), rural arson problem/solution, and federal arson programs.
For additional information, write to Ms. Mary Underwood, Conference Coordinator, Fifth National Fire Conference, U.S. Fire Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, D.C. 20472.
