Firehouse.Com In-Depth
USFA Releases Report on 1999 Firefighter Fatalities
HEATHER CASEY and LON SLEPICKA
Firehouse.Com News
In 1999, 112 of America's Bravest died in the line of duty, 21
more than the previous year, a rise that bucks the past decade's trend
of fewer firefighter deaths each year.
The United States Fire Administration (USFA, through its National Fire Data Center (NFDC),
has tracked the number of firefighter fatalities for
more than 20 years, and released its annual report for calendar year 1999 earlier this
week.
A Quick Review
There are some facts that jump out of this report. December 1999
was devastating in terms of firefighter fatalities with a total
of 19 deaths in 12 incidents including the
tragic deaths of three in Keokuk, Iowa, and six in Worcester, Massachusetts.
A disproportionate number of volunteer firefighters were
killed while responding to and returning from alarms. Almost
one third of all volunteer firefighter deaths occurred while
performing this type of duty. Eleven of the 23 who died this
way died of heart attacks, 10 in vehicle collisions.
Stress-induced heart attacks remained the top cause of
all firefighter deaths.
The 1999 firefighter fatalities included
74 volunteer firefighters and 38 career firefighters, which translates into a proportion
just about equal to the national ratio between the two groups.
There were 18 firefighter deaths associated with
brush, grass or wildland fires in 1999, a marked
increase from the experience of the past four years.
Further Analysis
The analysis of firefighters' deaths in 1999
indicates that the overall long-term trend
toward fewer fatalities has suffered a step backward.
AP World Wide Photos/Paul Connors
Firefighters pour water onto a lingering general-alarm fire that erupted Dec. 3 at an abandoned cold storage warehouse in Worcester, Mass. Two firefighters entered the five-story building to search for homeless people living in the structure, when they ran into trouble, four others entered the building. Both teams were lost.
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The 112 deaths that occurred last year represent a level that
is 16 percent higher than the trend over the last decade.
Firefighters continue to provide more services to their communities,
and the addition of emergency medical services provision,
hazardous materials response and technical rescue service
has brought risks and accompanying firefighter deaths.
Through the collection of information on the causes of
firefighter deaths, the USFA is able to focus on specific problems
and direct efforts toward finding solutions to reduce the number of
fatalities in the future. This information also is used to measure the
effectiveness of current programs directed toward firefighters' health and safety.
In addition to the analysis, the USFA provides a list of firefighter
fatalities to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
If Memorial criteria are met, the fallen firefighters are
memorialized during the annual Fire Prevention Week at
the Emmitsburg, Md. facility.
"We think what the USFA does in the report is excellent," said
Mary Ellis, spokeswoman for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
"We work to honor the fallen firefighers, but I think we're all in
agreement that what we really want is to do is prevent these deaths."
This year's total reverses the long-term downward
trend of reduced fatalities that began in 1979,
after a peak of 171 in 1978. Despite a horrible year in 1999,
the overall trend in fatalities is down 24 percent over the last 10 years.
U.S. Firefighter Deaths Since 1988
|
| 1988 | 136 |
| 1989 | 119 |
| 1990 | 108 |
| 1991 | 109 |
| 1992 | 75 |
| 1993 | 77 |
| 1994 | 104 |
| 1995 | 96 |
| 1996 | 95 |
| 1997 | 94 |
| 1998 | 91 |
| 1999 | 112 |
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Among last year's 74 volunteer fatalities, 71 were from local or
municipal volunteer fire departments and three were seasonal or contract
members of wildland fire agencies.
Of the 38 career firefighters who died,
37 were members of local or municipal fire departments and one was a
wildland career firefighter. Of the 112 total fatalities, two were women.
On Duty: The Definition
On-duty fatalities include any injury or illness sustained
while on duty that proves fatal. The term on-duty refers
to being involved in operation at the scene of an emergency
whether it is a fire or non-fire incident; performing
other officially assigned duties such as training, maintenance,
public education, inspection, investigations, court testimony, and fund-raising;
and being on call, under orders, or on stand by, except at the
individual's home or place of business.
An individual who experiences a heart attack or other fatal injury at
home as he or she prepares to respond to an emergency is
considered on duty when the response begins.
Multi-Fatality Incidents
The 112 deaths resulted from 100 incidents; there were six multi-fatality
incidents, resulting in the deaths of 18 firefighters.
This is down from the total of 10 multi fatality incidents that
occurred in 1998, which resulted in 22 firefighter deaths.
Type of Duty
Firehouse.Com File Photo/Belinda Hart
Firefighters work on the roof of a Lake Worth, Texas church as it collapses.
A firefighter can be seen in the middle holding onto the roof. Three firefighters died
in the Feb. 15, 1999 blaze.
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There were 93 deaths while firefighters engaged in emergency service delivery, including deaths that were the result of injuries sustained on the incident scene or en route to the scene (four died immediately after an emergency incident). There were 76 killed in relation to fires, 12 in relation to EMS calls, one in relation to a hazardous materials emergency and one killed while engaged in a technical rescue. Those killed in relation to false alarms consisted of one who experienced a heart attack at a call that involved the prank activation of a fire alarm pull station, one who had a heart attack at the scene of fire alarm activation caused by carpet installation activity and one who fell from a ladder truck en route to what turned out to be a false alarm.
In 1999, 97 on-duty firefighter deaths were associated with emergency incidents, accounting for 87 percent of the 112 fatalities. This includes all firefighters who died while responding to an emergency, while at the emergency scene, or while returning from the incident. Non-emergency activities accounted for 15 fatalities, or 13 percent. Non-emergency duties included training, administrative activities or performing other duties not related to an emergency incident.
As in previous years the largest number of deaths occurred during fireground operations. There were 60 fireground deaths, equaling 54 percent of the fatalities, up from 46 percent in 1998 and 44 percent in 1997. Of these 60 deaths, more than 25 resulted from heart attacks that occurred on the fire scene. Other fireground deaths included 14 from asphyxiation, eight from burns, eight from internal trauma and three electrocutions. One firefighter died of a heat stroke as he worked as an EMT on a wildland fire incident and another drowned at the scene of a woods fire.
There were 26 firefighters who died while responding to or returning from emergency incidents. This has been the second leading type of duty in which firefighter deaths have occurred since 1993. The number killed performing this type of duty is up sharply from 1998 when 14 firefighters were killed
Of the 26 firefighters who died while responding to or returning from alarms, 13 died of heart attacks, two died of strokes or CVA's and 11 died from traumatic injuries. Two firefighters died in collisions in their personal vehicles, one died when he was ejected through the windshield of a pumper after a collision, one was killed when the rescue truck in which he was a passenger hit a tree, one fell from a ladder truck as it responded to an automatic fire alarm and a total of six firefighters were killed in collisions, most of them rollovers.
There were 11 deaths during other on-duty activities, including five firefighters who died from heart attacks while on duty and two who died from pulmonary embolisms. One was killed when a part of a front-end loader that he was using to clear snow from fire hydrants failed and struck him, one was killed in an explosion of fireworks residue as he supervised a controlled burn, one suffered a stroke or CVA as he was engaged in a physical fitness workout, and one died of heart inflammation while on duty.
Seven deaths were related to activities at non-emergency incidents; this is half the number reported in 1998. Two of the deaths involved fire police officers: one died of a heart attack and one died after being struck by a tractor trailer truck as he directed traffic. Two died of heart attacks while engaged in vehicle extrication incidents, one died of a heart attack as he aided an injured high school football player, one of a heart attack while engaged in a trench rescue incident and one was killed when he was struck by a car at the scene of an earlier motor vehicle collision.
Five died in 1999 after the conclusion of an incident. Three were heart attacks, one was a stomach aneurysm and the fifth was a fire investigator crushed by the collapse of a chimney in the attic of a building where he was investigating.
Three died during training exercises. This is much fewer than the 12 that died in 1998 and more in line with recent years. The deaths in 1999 included one who drowned during a dive training exercise, one who had a heart attack during a physical fitness test and one who suffered head and facial trauma after attempting an emergency egress procedure during a training exercise.
Cause of Fatal Injury
A fatal injury usually is the result of a chain of events, the
first of which is recorded as the cause. As in most previous years,
the largest cause category is stress or overexertion,
which was listed as the primary factor in 49 percent of the deaths,
up from 46 percent in 1998, and 43 percent in 1997.
Most firefighter deaths attributed to stress result from heart attacks.
Of the stress-related fatalities in 1999, 52 firefighters
died of heart attacks and two died of CVA's.
Seven of the 54 deaths for which the cause is listed as
stress/overexertion occurred during non-emergency activities.
Cause of Injury
|
| Stress or overexertion | 54 | 49% |
| Collisions | 119 | 10% |
| Caught or trapped | 108 | 10% |
| Struck by/contact with an object | 11 | 10% |
| Lost | 7 | 6% |
| Other | 7 | 6% |
| Collapse | 6 | 5% |
| Fell or jumped | 5 | 4% |
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Nature of Fatal Injury
The leading nature of death in 1999 was heart attacks, which
accounted for 52 deaths, up from 38 in 1998 and 39 in 1997.
Twenty-five of the heart attacks occurred at the fire scene and 13 occurred
while en route to or returning from and emergency incident.
This represents a major increase from 1998, when 17 and six
respectively died. One occurred at a training incident, down
from seven in 1998, and five occurred during non-fire incidents,
the same as in 1998.
Five heart attacks occurred during other on-duty times and three occurred
just after the firefighter responded to an incident.
Nature of Death
|
| Heart attacks | 52 | 46% |
| Internal trauma | 25 | 22% |
| Asphyxiation | 16 | 14% |
| Burns | 8 | 7% |
| CVA/stroke | 3 | 3% |
| Electrocution | 3 | 3% |
| Other | 3 | 3% |
| Pulmonary embolism | 2 | 2% |
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Fireground Deaths
Structural fires accounted for 41 fireground deaths.
As in most years, residential occupancies accounted
for the highest number of these fatalities, with 23 deaths
(more than half of all structural fire deaths). Residential
occupancies usually account for 70 to 80 percent of all structure
fires and a similar percentage of the civilian fire deaths each year.
The frequency of deaths in relation to the number of fires is much higher
for non-residential structures.
Fires that occurred on outdoor properties and "street/road" accounted
for a total of 19 deaths.
Vehicle Collisions
In 1999, 14 firefighters died as the result of collisions
involving fire apparatus or firefighters' personal vehicles,
or by falling from fire apparatus.
Protective Equipment
Personal protective clothing and equipment
In 1999, 16 firefighters died in situations where
the provision and use of personal protective clothing
possibly could have prevented their deaths.
It is impossible to express their chances of survival in absolute
terms; however a discussion of these situations is appropriate.
State and region
Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia
each had at least one firefighter fatality.
Pennsylvania had the highest number of deaths with 13
followed by Massachusetts with 12.
Deaths by Region
|
| Northeast | 44 |
| South | 31 |
| Northcentral | 29 |
| West | 8 |
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The 19th Annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service will
honor firefighters who died in the line of duty in 1999. The annual
public tribute, held at the site of the official national memorial in Emmitsburg, Md.
will take place on October 8, 2000.
The Memorial Service is the culmination of Memorial Weekend
activities held on the National Fire Academy campus.
Families and coworkers of the honored firefighters will
attend Family Day activities on Saturday, October 7,
with a public Candlelight Service scheduled for Saturday evening.
The Sunday Memorial Service will begin at 10:30 a.m.
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