Between 2000 and 2010 the US Forest Service and the Department of the Interior experienced 82 wildland fire fatalities. Our most recent organizational focus has been to eliminate fatalities. The chief of the USFS, in a letter to all employees, asked us to "suspend disbelief" with regard to the concept of a "zero fatality organization". This plea came while some field personnel argued that there was no way to eliminate fatalities without eliminating risk.