This volume is published with a triple aim: to take a look back over the advances during the ten years of the Mediterranean Burns Club and mark its anniversary; to follow up and strengthen the successful twin ning of burns as a clinical, individual illness problem and fires as a societal, disaster management problem; and to look ahead at the per spectives of burn care and fire prevention in the fast-approaching new century. The occasion also marks the tenth annual presentation of the prestigious G. Whitaker International Burns Prize, to which the Mediterranean Burns Club acts as the scientific fulcrum. The award is now established as the most distinguished recognition in burns science worldwide, and it is gratifying that the contributions of many of the renowned recipients will be found in this book. This is a sequel to The Management of Mass Burn Casualties and Fire Disasters, which contained the Proceedings of the First International Conference on Burns and Fire Disasters. The book and the conference have fully justified the authors' initial concept that burn specialists, con stantly combatting burn disease and promoting rehabilitation of the victims, especially in mass casualty situations, had for too long remained separate from that other essential sector, the fire-fighting authorities and fire prevention systems, whose aim is also the protection of the individual and the promotion of safety. This long overdue synergism has now become reality, and the present volume strengthens this desirable trend.

Thermal harm is one of the most traumatizing assaults on man and his environment. Whether suffered by living beings as burn injury, or sustained by societal structures as fire damage, the resulting physical pain and material loss can be extremely distressing both to the person and to society. The health professions and in particular burn specialists have been continually developing effective means of combating burn disease and promoting rehabili tation of the victims, especially in mass casualty situations. In parallel, various levels of the community have been mobilizing fire prevention and fire-fighting mechanisms that protect society and the environment from the ever-increasing hazards of fire disasters. It is therefore surprising that, while aiming at the same objective, the two sectors have rarely come together; doctor has rarely worked with fire chief. Yet both disciplines have so much to learn from and contribute to each other's efforts. The Mediterranean Burns Club is a professional organization that brings together persons concerned with burn therapy and fire safety in all forms, especially in the countries of the Mediterranean basin. It is honoured to have been identified by the United Nations as a premier scientific body in its field within the programme of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. It is therefore natural that it should have initiated an international gathering of specialists engaged in burns as a surgical, clinical problem, and of counterparts dealing with fires as a societal, disaster management problem.

This volume is published with a triple aim: to take a look back over the advances during the ten years of the Mediterranean Burns Club and mark its anniversary; to follow up and strengthen the successful twin ning of burns as a clinical, individual illness problem and fires as a societal, disaster management problem; and to look ahead at the per spectives of burn care and fire prevention in the fast-approaching new century. The occasion also marks the tenth annual presentation of the prestigious G. Whitaker International Burns Prize, to which the Mediterranean Burns Club acts as the scientific fulcrum. The award is now established as the most distinguished recognition in burns science worldwide, and it is gratifying that the contributions of many of the renowned recipients will be found in this book. This is a sequel to The Management of Mass Burn Casualties and Fire Disasters, which contained the Proceedings of the First International Conference on Burns and Fire Disasters. The book and the conference have fully justified the authors' initial concept that burn specialists, con stantly combatting burn disease and promoting rehabilitation of the victims, especially in mass casualty situations, had for too long remained separate from that other essential sector, the fire-fighting authorities and fire prevention systems, whose aim is also the protection of the individual and the promotion of safety. This long overdue synergism has now become reality, and the present volume strengthens this desirable trend."

Thermal harm is one of the most traumatizing assaults on man and his environment. Whether suffered by living beings as burn injury, or sustained by societal structures as fire damage, the resulting physical pain and material loss can be extremely distressing both to the person and to society. The health professions and in particular burn specialists have been continually developing effective means of combating burn disease and promoting rehabili tation of the victims, especially in mass casualty situations. In parallel, various levels of the community have been mobilizing fire prevention and fire-fighting mechanisms that protect society and the environment from the ever-increasing hazards of fire disasters. It is therefore surprising that, while aiming at the same objective, the two sectors have rarely come together; doctor has rarely worked with fire chief. Yet both disciplines have so much to learn from and contribute to each other's efforts. The Mediterranean Burns Club is a professional organization that brings together persons concerned with burn therapy and fire safety in all forms, especially in the countries of the Mediterranean basin. It is honoured to have been identified by the United Nations as a premier scientific body in its field within the programme of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. It is therefore natural that it should have initiated an international gathering of specialists engaged in burns as a surgical, clinical problem, and of counterparts dealing with fires as a societal, disaster management problem."