A nationwide effort to seek more fire prevention assistance from civilians touched down in American Canyon last week.

The city’s new Public Safety Building was one of 13 sites for a Saturday forum involving some 500 fire marshals from locations as far-flung as Maine and Ohio. Local participants included fire officials from Fairfield, Rio Vista and American Canyon.

The event was part of the Vision 20/20 project, a virtual group funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Participants watched a presentation on fire problems and priorities, and agreed on efforts to seek and share more reliable fire data and to better educate adults about fire prevention.

American Canyon Assistant Fire Chief Mark Nelson, the city’s fire marshal, said, “Most of the concerns we had were shared nationwide.”

More than 3,000 people lose their lives in fires nationwide every year, according to the U.S. Fire Administration of the Department of Homeland Security.

Property loss to fire was estimated at $11.7 billion in 2004.

Nelson and Geoff Spinner, fire marshal at Rio Vista, agreed there is a need for more fire prevention education for adults.

Common mistakes include storing gasoline or other fuels stored next to a water heater, leaving the kitchen unattended when meals are cooking and overloading a house’s electrical system.

Adults also need better training on the use of detector systems, making sure to replace batteries, Spinner said.

Children really listen when firefighters offer advice, Spinner said. However adults’ attitude toward fire prevention is harder to change.

“Adults are set in their ways,” Spinner said.

Ed Comeau, a spokesman for the Vision 20/20 project, said the top priorities from the forums around the country will be presented March 31 and April 1 in Washington, D.C. to discuss a national, cohesive fire prevention strategy.

Nelson, like other fire marshals who spoke by speakerphone after lunch, said he believes better fire data reporting among fire departments, insurance companies and members of the public would better pinpoint the source of fires.

Nelson said participants in the Vision 20/20 seminar will prepare five top priorities and start working on them at the local level.