The purpose of this investigation was to develop an objective and quantitative scale to measure the severity of burn injury. The scale which best describes the estimation sample consists of seven variables: sex, age, percentage body surface burned, percentage second-degree burn, percentage third-degree burn, number of critical sites burned, and the presence of inhalation injury. These variables were the “best ”predictive subset of the larger group of 40 variables, for the estimation sample utilized in the study. The scale was assessed for predictive validity to outcome mortality and successfully cross-validated to a different set of patients from burn centers and a sample of patients from community hospitals.