In the Spring of 2004, the U S Fire Administration (USFA) partnered with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in a cooperative agreement project entitled Mitigating the Rural Fire Problem. The purpose of the project was to examine what can be done to reduce the high death rate from fires in rural U S communities

Summarizes the findings from an extensive analysis of the fire problem in rural areas of the U.S. Some differences between fires in rural & non-rural areas point to issues that need to be considered when designing public education programs to reduce the number of fires & the deaths, injuries, & property loss associated with rural fires. Chapters: where fires occur; characteristics of the rural fire problem; residential structure fires; variations in the rural fire problem -- North vs. the South; manufactured housing -- severity & causes of fires, smoke detector performance, & extent of flame damage; fire death rates in rural areas; & the distribution of fire deaths in rural areas.