The Fire Mark Circle of the Americas (FMCA) was organized in 1972 by a group of fire mark collectors in the United States. These collectors knew of numerous other collectors throughout the country who were interested in sharing information and exchanging fire marks and fire artifacts, but had no practical way of communicating with each other. The initial meeting of the FMCA was at the Museum of the Home Insurance Company in New York. This was the logical place for the first meeting because the Home Insurance Company had sponsored and published the "bible" of fire mark collectors Footprints of Assurance by Alwin Bulau.