"The American fire service suffered another staggering year of loss in 2002," said U.S. Fire Administrator R. David Paulison. "More than 84 communities and 33 states suffered losses. We need to continue to work to reduce these deaths. Our goal is a 25 percent reduction within five years and a 50 percent reduction in 10 years."
According to the report:
- 23 firefighters died in wildland firefighting incidents, primarily in California and Colorado, where the fire season was especially severe
- Five firefighters from Oregon, traveling to fight a fire in Colorado, were killed when their van was involved in a crash
- Six deaths occurred as a result of three wildland firefighting aircraft crashes
- Two St. Louis firefighters died when they were trapped in a burning business
- 11 firefighters were killed during training exercises
- Four firefighters died in separate incidents when they were struck by passing vehicles while working incidents on roadways
- A fire chief in New Mexico was killed by a gunshot suffered while on the scene of a structure fire and six other firefighters were murdered in arson-caused or suspicious fires
- 37 firefighters died on duty of heart attacks
- Career firefighters constituted 34 of the deaths in 2002, with volunteer, seasonal and part-time firefighters comprising the remainder
- 95 of those who died were men and five were women
The deaths in 2002 mark the fifth time in the past decade that firefighter fatalities reached or exceeded 100. At press time, there were 83 firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2003. The 2002 report, previous years' reports and the Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study 1990-2000 can be found at www.usfa.fema.gov/inside-usfa/nfdc/pubs/ff-fat.shtm.
Several years ago, Jeff Barrington and I interviewed the FDNY commissioner. At the time, there had been a two-year stretch during which no FDNY firefighter died in the line of duty. We asked the commissioner about that fact and he said it was just a matter of time before the next line-of-duty death occurred. Since that meeting, with the 343 firefighters killed at the World Trade Center, well over 350 FDNY firefighters have died. A few weeks ago, 17-year veteran FDNY Firefighter James J. O'Shea, 41, died after fighting a fire apparently set by a child. In the March 1987 issue of Firehouse®, O'Shea was the top honoree in our 1986 Heroism & Community Service Awards Program. Our sincere condolences.
With the staggering numbers listed from the 2002 firefighter fatality report and the number of recent apparatus accidents around the country, there is plenty that every fire department can do to reduce this firefighter death toll. Because of the inherent dangers of the jobs that firefighters are called to perform from coast to coast, we will continue to present columns by our contributing editors on safety and survival issues on many fronts. Mike Wilbur and Ron Moore will continue to examine safe driving practices and procedures to be followed when responding to and operating on highways. This area needs a lot of work.
We will begin a new feature in an upcoming issue to present information from recent NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) Firefighter Fatality reports to continue to get the word out on ways to reduce firefighter injury and death. A great way to begin is for your companies and departments to discuss what happened at these previous incidents and how your units or companies would react to the same situation.
