The U.S. Fire Administration has released its annual report into firefighter line-of-duty deaths that includes a breakdown of the 87 lives lost in 2017.
The total number of duty deaths last year was slightly lower than the revised total of 91 deaths in 2016. Of the 87 who died last year, 33 were career firefighters, 48 were volunteers and six were part-time or full-time members of wildland or wildland contract fire agencies.
The deaths occurred across 86 incidents, marking the first time in a decade that there wasn't more than one incident with two or more fatalities. Last year was also only the third in ten years in which no wildland incidents resulted in two or more deaths.
The exact breakdown of 2017 on-duty deaths is as follows:
- After an incident - 18
- On-scene fire - 17
- Other on-duty - 16
- On-scene non-fire - 12
- Training - 12
- Responding or returning - 11
- Motor vehicle accident - 1
The nature of fatal injury for seven of the 17 fireground deaths was cardiac (41 percent). When you add in the after-incident deaths—15 of which were reported as cardiac—and the bulk of the training deaths, you get a clear picture of what poses the biggest danger to modern firefighters.
With stress or overexertion responsible for 52 deaths in 2017, it remains pivotal that proper health, diet and fitness continue to be promoted among firefighters.
You can read the entire 45-page report here.
