Proclamation 3798—Fire Prevention Week, 1967

Every day, destructive fires bring tragedy and loss to some American families. Every year the human toll of fire exceeds 10,000 lives. In 1966, more than twice as many Americans were killed by fire than on the battlefields of Vietnam.

The dollar damage from fire increases every year. Last year, almost $2 billion worth of property was destroyed in flame and smoke.

These are grievous statistics. They represent sorrow and suffering and financial hardship which need not have happened. For fire's final, bitter irony is that most of it is avoidable. Most fires are caused by carelessness or by hazardous conditions which could be corrected.

It is imperative that the United States undertake a massive program to perfect its knowledge of, and its protection against, the havoc of fire.

For this reason, I have asked the Congress to enact the Fire Research and Safety Act of 1967, which will:

—Improve our information about the causes and costs of fire.

—Develop better fire fighting and fire prevention techniques.

—Support community efforts to improve their fire control programs.

—Expand public education in the prevention of fires.

I have also asked the Congress to enact amendments to the Flammable Fabrics Act, which will enable us to help save the thousands who die each year because of flammable and explosive clothing and interior furnishings.

This legislation will strengthen America's efforts to reduce the senseless repetition of destruction that fire inflicts on our Nation.

But in the final analysis, fire prevention can succeed only at the community level. Local efforts must make every citizen aware of his personal responsibility for removing fire hazards and reforming the habits that cause fires.

Recognizing the importance of those efforts, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week beginning October 8, 1967, as Fire Prevention Week.

I bid all citizens earnestly to support the fire prevention and control efforts of their community fire departments. I urge State and local governments, the National Fire Protection Association, business and civic groups, and public information agencies to observe Fire Prevention Week, to provide useful fire safety information to the public, and to enlist the active participation of all citizens in year-round fire prevention programs. I also direct the Federal Fire Council and the appropriate Federal agencies to assist in this effort to reduce the needless waste of life and property caused by preventable fires.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of August in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-second.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON