Last month, we noted that many fatal fires in recent years involving firefighters have occurred during the summer. A few weeks passed and then we had nine firefighters killed and four others injured during a wildland helicopter crash in northern California (see page 16). This wildfire near Redding had burned about 34 square miles and was 21% contained at the time of the accident. This is another in a series of recent mishaps for airborne firefighting and medical transport helicopters. Last month's firefighter fatality index listed on the editorial page for the year to date was 64. The number this month, as of presstime, has taken a large jump to 82.
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) recently released its annual firefighter fatality report, an overview of the 118 firefighters who died while on duty in 2007. Among the statistics compiled: 68 volunteer firefighters and 50 career firefighters died while on duty; in seven incidents, two or more firefighters were killed, claiming a total of 21 firefighters' lives; 11 firefighters were killed during activities involving brush, grass, or wildland firefighting, the lowest in over a decade; activities related to emergency incidents resulted in the deaths of 76 firefighters; 38 firefighters died while engaged in activities at the scene of a fire; 26 firefighters died while responding to or returning from emergency incidents; 11 firefighters died during training activities; and 15 firefighters died after the conclusion of their on-duty activity. Heart attacks were the most frequent cause of death in 2007, with 52 firefighter deaths.
I was speaking to Bill Jenaway, the fire chief of King of Prussia, PA, and an executive at VFIS, about the insurance business during Firehouse Expo. He said that there were fewer accidents involving fire chiefs' vehicles recently, but there were a lot of backing accidents. I told him that my newest engine has a camera installed on the rear and officer side of the rig to assist in backing and turning. He asked about a camera on the front of the rig. He explained that three of his ambulances had been involved in recent accidents, but their front-facing cameras showed that the other drivers were at fault. About an hour later, I received notification that a fire chief in Wisconsin had died when struck by a vehicle.
A metro fire department chief asks that the people in the fire service magazine business stress the importance of wearing seatbelts. He said that if firefighters read it in Firehouse®, they may comply. The USFA report cited above notes that 27 firefighter fatalities resulted from vehicle-related incidents. In 19 of the 27 incidents where seatbelt status was known, 11 firefighters were confirmed as not wearing seatbelts at the time of the event. Billy Goldfeder of Firefighter Close Calls reports on all the firefighters who live and die. Usually, firefighters who wear seatbelts live and those who don't do not survive. It's that simple. Enough said.
"Frequent fliers" are those that some firefighters call repeat callers or chronic EMS abusers. It seems like the more you respond, the better the chance to meet and greet the same members of the public time after time. I recently responded to an address where workers were drilling and creating dust. The department had responded to the same address for the same reason earlier in the day. When I returned to headquarters, the department secretary told me we've been called to that address five times this year. One year, we responded to a group home 15 times for a variety of reasons. One night, we received an automatic alarm for the same address. I responded and noted that a vehicle struck the hydrant taking it out of service across the street from the location earlier in the day. When I arrived, I asked where the fire alarm was located. The person on scene said it was upstairs and I asked, "What set it off?" The person replied, "Set it off? There's a fire up there!" A mattress was on fire in a second-floor bedroom. Remember, always expect the unexpected.
In this issue, we present the final installment of the National Run Survey, detailing pay and staffing, busiest hazardous materials units, busiest ambulances and busiest rescue units. For the first time, we report statistics on non-transport EMS.
For comments, ideas, suggestions, please contact us at [email protected].
