4 | International Fire Chief Association
The International Association of Fire
Chiefs emerged from the wake of two
devastating fire events (Great Conflagra-
tions) which respectively ravaged Chica-
go in 1871 and Boston in 1872. The toll
in human casualties, loss of municipal in-
frastructure and crippling economic im-
pact was so extreme to rank these events
among the worst national disasters ever
to occur in 19th Century America. Yet, in
this same era, the Chief Engineer of the
Boston Fire Department (John Damrell)
pushed for the creation of a national or-
ganization of fire professionals with the
