The effects of climate change harms upon public health could be disastrous. Many have likened the urgency and peril associated with our global situation to living in a house on fire. This article uses the housefire metaphor to consider how public health teams and others can encourage actions that lessen climate-related harms. Using strategic narratives to disseminate communications may improve chances of this being achieved. The housefire metaphor expresses the urgency and our shared ownership of the climate situation, and it (...) can be deployed to recommend feasible, remedial actions. (shrink)