b'THE HISTORY OF WINGSPREAD The first Fire Wingspread Conference was held in February of 1966 and was sponsored by the Johnson Foundation at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin. The purpose of this conference was to identify and raise awareness of the challenges facing the fire service. A small group of fire service and associated industry leaders came together to capture and identify this information to educate political leaders, community members, and the fire service in general. Wingspread I was the first steppingstone towards establishing the United States Fire Administration (USFA), as well as the National Fire Academy (NFA). This was just the beginning of the rippling impacts that the Wingspread conferences have had on improving the fire service at the national, state, and local levels. Wingspread conferences continued to be convened every ten years, with Wingspread II being held in March of 1976, just three years after the publication of America Burning. Wingspread III was held in October of 1986, and Wingspread IV moved to Dothan, Alabama in October of 1996. The fourth conference report focused on emerging issues of national importance to the fire service and included Statements of Significance to raise public awareness of these challenges and potential opportunities. Wingspread V, held in Atlanta, Georgia in April of 2006, marked a period of tremendous growth for the conference. This conference nearly tripled in attendance, with thirty-seven fire service leaders and subject matter experts participating and authoring a report that identified a great number of significant issues facing the fire and emergency services. In celebration of the 50 thanniversary of this important event, Wingspread VI returned to the Wingspread Conference Center. It was determined at this event, due to quickly emerging and ever evolving issues, the Wingspread conferences would be convened every five years instead of every ten years.For reference, the highlights and Statements of Significance captured at each of the previous conferences have been included in the appendix of this report. 5'