Stratford Professional Firefighters Burn Foundation

Production of the DVD was made possible by a grant from the MetLife Foundation. The documentary is comprised of five 20 minute teaching modules entitled: Fire Is Black, Fire is Hot, Fire is Fast, Fire is Smoke & Gas and Fire is Emergency. FIRE IS... employs a straight-talking realistic approach to teaching fire safety. It is a serious educational tool for parents, teachers and fire administrators that uses footage contributed from 30 television stations across the U.S. of actual fires, real firefighters and victims, without the use of actors.

In the late 1980's as Science Editor at a New York City TV network affiliate, Dr. Field began investigating disturbing trends in fire safety records in major U.S. cities. He found that as it relates to fire, it was safer to live in a foreign city like Tokyo, than in a major U.S. metropolitan city. That conclusion led Dr. Field to produce an Emmy award winning news series on fire safety. In addition, since the 1970's, Dr. Field was one of nation's most vocal advocates of the Heimlich maneuver. Today the Heimlich maneuver must be posted in all New York restaurants.

Regarding the DVD project Dr. Field said, "Fire Safety Education for most Americans has been limited to the occasional fire drill in grade school and practicing stop, drop and roll. Many schools offer little more than token education, with many having no program in place at all. Sadly, even many parents have not been taught fire safety lessons and are unable to pass along to their children the right and wrong practices in case of a real fire. That is why this project is so important."

He continued, "Few outside of the fire service know that a true fire situation is so dangerous and confusing to a victim that they would not be able to see their hand in front of their face, even at the tip of their nose; Fire can engulf the typical bedroom or living room in less than a minute with a fire so hot and without oxygen, that one could not survive. Our goal with FIRE IS... will be to provide a greater sense of reality for teaching fire safety and bringing home the message about how dangerous fire is, how to prevent it and be better prepared in case of a fire."

Dr. Frank Field was joined on the project with his son, Storm Field and daughter Alison Field, who also provided their services pro-bono.