The Role of Demographics in Fire Safety  At the recent symposium
in Washington, D.C., "Fire Protection and Safety: Preparing for
the Next 25 Years," sponsored by the Fire Protection Research
Foundation, demographics was the first item on the agenda in
helping to determine what direction the country, and the fire
service, would be moving. Dr. Kevin McCarthy, formerly a senior
social scientist with the RAND Corporation, discussed the
demographic shifts that will be taking place over the next 25
years and the impact that it will have on the future of fire
safety.  The current population of the United States is
estimated to be at 306 million people and there will be growth
of approximately 1 percent or 3 million people across the
country (Global population is estimated to be 6.8 billion).
Demographers use a simple formula when calculating population
growth called the Balance Equation. It is made up of a segment
called "natural increase" which is births minus deaths which is
then coupled with immigration.  Populat