Recent LODD, Spotlights Dangers Firefighters Face

Aug. 3—Although a detailed report is at least a month away, the death on July 27 of volunteer firefighter Raymond Moreau due to an accident at a house fire in Plainville has drawn new attention to firefighter health and safety in Connecticut.

"Ray was a guy who literally got out of bed and went to help a neighbor and lost his life doing so ‒ and that's what our volunteers do all the time," said state Comptroller Sean Scanlon.

Scanlon's office oversees health insurance and pension benefits for thousands of state firefighters, and the comptroller also spearheaded a task force that issued a report earlier this year that sounded an alarm on the state of fire services in Connecticut.

Moreau's family will be the first to receive an expanded death benefit for first responders signed into law after the most recent legislative session, Scanlon announced last week.

Scanlon said that Moreau's death highlights the outsize role of the state's volunteer firefighters, who exclusively staff 61% of Connecticut's 300 fire departments, and supply most of the first responders at 16% more.

"This is a really dangerous job, and most of the people who are doing it to keep you and your family safe are not getting paid to do it," Scanlon said.

A 62.7% decline in the number of volunteers at fire departments in the past decade has led to a 50% total drop in the number of firefighters across the state, a trend that endangers both first responders and the communities they serve, Scanlon said. A coalition of state agencies and fire chiefs is working to step up recruiting efforts for volunteers, in addition to bolstering benefits for both volunteer and career firefighters.

"I think that we have to get this right if we want to keep Connecticut safe and continuing to avoid this being a crisis," Scanlon said.

Equipment-related deaths rare in firefighting

As the firefighting task force continues its work, the accident that resulted in Moreau's death is being investigated by the Connecticut State Police Major Crime Unit, along with the agency's Fire Explosion Investigation Unit and the Collision Analyst and Reconstruction Squad. The state's Occupational Safety and Health agency, known as CONN-OSHA, will also probe the accident due to its jurisdiction over workplace injuries and deaths.

The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced last week that Moreau had died from blunt force trauma to the head, neck, torso and extremities.

"Firefighter Raymond Moreau (DOB: 02/11/65) was working on scene and standing outside 45 Maria Road near a fire apparatus. A piece of the fire truck broke free of the apparatus and struck Firefighter Moreau, causing catastrophic injuries to his leg," the State Police said in a news release issued in the hours after the accident.

Accidents involving fire equipment like the one that killed Moreau in Plainville are relatively unusual, said Bob Fash, an emergency services specialist at the National Fire Protection Association, which is based in Quincy, Massachusetts. Fash said he hadn't heard of a similar equipment-related incident causing a firefighter death.

In 2024, only 10% of on-duty fatal firefighter deaths nationwide were categorized as "struck by incidents" involving impact injuries of any kind, according to the National Fire Protection Association, which collects data on firefighter deaths.

Three of the five total "struck by" deaths in 2024 were caused when fire vehicles were struck by falling trees, while the other two were caused when firefighters were struck by "non-fire vehicles."

Overall, 2024 was one of the safest years on record for U.S. firefighters with 51 on-duty deaths recorded, down from 74 in 2023 and reflecting a steady decline in annual fatalities in recent decades since a high of 174 in 1978. (The trend calculations don't include the 340 firefighters who died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.)

Another data source, incident reports compiled by the federal U.S. Fire Administration, finds 433 "struck by" firefighter deaths caused by trauma occurring nationwide from early 1990 through Oct. 28. 2024. At least two of the "struck by" deaths in that period occurred in Connecticut, with Moreau's accident appearing in the database as of last week.

Vehicle accidents claim two CT firefighters in 2024

Moreau's death was the most recent of 49 firefighter fatalities nationwide so far in 2025, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, which tallies a wider range of incidents than the National Fire Protection Association. A total of 55 Connecticut firefighters have lost their lives on the job since 1990, according to the federal data.

Prior to Moreau, the most recent Connecticut firefighter to die was Newtown Assistant Chief Peter "Pete" Joseph Blomberg, who was fatally struck by a car on Oct. 28, 2024, while crossing the street on his way to a fire commission meeting. Trauma from a vehicle accident played a role in another Connecticut firefighter death earlier that month, when Engineer Robert "Sharky" Sharkevich Sr. died after his utility terrain vehicle rolled over on him while he was helping to battle a brush fire in Berlin on Oct. 22.

Even with the spate of struck-by incidents in Connecticut, by far the largest percentage of on-duty firefighter deaths nationwide in 2024 were attributed to "overexertion, strain," at 57% of fatal injuries.

The National Fire Protection Association studies a range of dangers, including inhaled carcinogens, fire-suppressant chemicals and other toxins encountered in firefighting, Fash said. The organization uses its researcher to craft protocols to make firefighting safer, he added. A number of recently issued safety standards concern equipment, with a focus on chemicals in uniforms and protective gear.

A coalition of Connecticut firefighters' unions filed a class action lawsuit earlier this year against manufacturers claiming that protective gear has been contaminated by cancer-causing chemicals. State lawmakers also acted this year to propose increased cancer screening opportunities for both career and volunteer firefighters in Connecticut.

Beyond physical dangers, stress and exposure to a range of carcinogens, firefighters also face psychological risks from doing their jobs, Fash said.

"I think the emerging challenges right now are dealing with exposure to traumatic events," Fash said. He cited the impact on first responders of a fire last month that killed 10 people at an assisted living home in Fall River, Massachusetts.

"Many of those responders are going through a process right now to help them cope with such a large loss of life," Fash said.

Firefighter deaths tied to heat risk in training

Connecticut researchers are at the forefront of studying a growing health risk for firefighters: Injuries and deaths directly related to excessive heat. UConn's Korey Stringer Institute studies heat injuries on the job with a special focus on firefighting, said Margaret Morrissey, the center's senior occupational heat safety advisor.

"Firefighting tends to be ahead of the curve, and I often use it as an example to drive innovation and better protective measures in other working populations," Morrissey said. Extensive research has been compiled over the decades on the impact of heat on first responders in fire situations, she said.

Heat risk for firefighters is highest during training, according to the data: Two of the 51 firefighter deaths in 2024 recorded by the National Fire Protection Association were blamed on fatal cases of heat stroke, both of which occurred in training situations.

"A lot of the heat-related illnesses and injuries that we do see in the firefighting populations tends to be in training rather than on the job because of individuals coming in with relatively low physical fitness levels, which can contribute to increased risk of heat illnesses," Morrissey said.

Beyond greater monitoring in training scenarios, more firefighters in recent years are using wearable devices to warn them of the high heart rate and elevated skin temperature than can be symptoms of serious heat illness, Morrissey said.

Firefighters themselves tend to be more adaptable to change in pursuit of health and safety than other groups of workers in workplaces more shaped by profit motives, Morrissey said. Firefighters have been early adopters of prevention efforts like requiring more frequent breaks in hot temperatures and newer methods of quickly cooling the body, like submerging the hands and forearms in cold water.

"It's very hard to get someone who's in fighting a fire to come out and take a break if there's lives at stake," Morrissey said. "But I think the work environment allows a little bit more modification."