Firefighter Fatalities in the United States 2003

NFPA Journal, Jul/Aug 2004 by Fahy, Rita F, LeBlanc, Paul R

EACH YEAR, NFPA COLLECTS DATA on all firefighter fatalities in the U.S. that resulted from injuries or illnesses that occurred while the victims were on-duty. The term on-duty refers to being at the scene of an alarm; responding to or returning from an alarm; and performing other assigned duties including training, maintenance, public education, inspection, investigations, fund raising, etc. The victims include local career and volunteer firefighters, seasonal and full-time employees of state and federal agencies with fire suppression responsibilities, prison inmates serving on firefighting crews, military personnel performing assigned fire suppression activities, civilian firefighters working at military installations, and members of industrial fire brigades.

In 2003, 105 on-duty firefighter deaths occurred in the U.S. This compares to the 97 firefighter fatalities that occurred in 2002.1 There were seven multiple-fatality incidents in 2003, the most severe of which was a motor vehicle crash that killed eight firefighters returning from a wildland fire. In addition, there were six two-fatality incidents. Figure 1 shows firefighter deaths for the years 1977 through 2003, excluding the deaths at the World Trade Center in 2001. The sharp increase in deaths in 2003 (up 8.2 percent) was due in large part to a particularly bad wildland fire season.

Type of duty

Figure 2 shows the distribution of the 105 deaths by type of duty. The largest proportion of deaths (35 percent, or 37 deaths) occurred while responding to or returning from alarms. Another 29 deaths occurred on the fire ground. This is the lowest number of firefighter deaths to occur on the fire ground since NFPA began this annual study in 1977 and the first time that fire ground deaths accounted for less than 30 percent of the total. While over the past decade it has been typical for a fifth to a quarter of on-duty deaths to occur while responding to or returning from alarms, deaths in this category in 2003 reached their highest number since 1988 and their highest share ever.

Of the 37 deaths while responding to or returning from alarms, the largest share (24 deaths) was due to collisions or rollovers. Another eight deaths were due to heart attacks. Vehicles struck three firefighters, one fell from the jump seat of an engine, and one fell from a ladder while responding to a call from home.

Slightly more than a quarter of the deaths in 2003 occurred during fire ground operations. Of these 29 deaths, 15 were due to heart attacks, seven to burns, three to asphyxiation, three to internal trauma and one to crushing injuries.

Nineteen firefighter deaths occurred during the performance of non-emergency-related on-duty activities. Seven of them died of heart attacks while engaged in normal administrative or station activities. Two others suffered fatal heart attacks while working at parades, two had heart attacks at fire department fundraisers and another died of a heart attack while clearing brush from a training site. Two firefighters were killed when their helicopter crashed while they were scouting potential water sources to control wildland fires and another died when his helicopter crashed during Columbia shuttle debris recovery. A firefighter was killed when the ambulance he was riding in while transporting a patient between medical facilities was rear-ended. A firefighter died in a crash while transporting supplies to crews on a wildland fire. Another died of injuries suffered when he fell from a riding lawn mower while working around the fire station. Finally, a firefighter fell from a ladder at the station while preparing for a fundraiser.

Eleven deaths occurred during training activities. Six firefighters suffered fatal heart attacks. One died of heat stroke at a live-fire training exercise. One lost control of a tanker during driver training and was thrown from the vehicle as it crashed. Another fell from the back of a pickup truck at a training school. A firefighter was killed when his fire apparatus went off the road and crashed into a tree while enroute to a HAZMAT training program. And a passing vehicle struck a firefighter when he stopped to retrieve something that had fallen off the fire apparatus while the unit was returning from a training exercise.

Nine deaths occurred at non-fire emergencies. Six of these nine firefighters suffered fatal heart attacks at the scenes of medical calls, motor vehicle crashes, or other non-fire emergencies. Two firefighters were struck and killed, one at the scene of an acid spill and the other at a motor vehicle crash. One firefighter collapsed due to cardiac arrhythmia and suffered fatal head injuries.

Cause and nature of fatal injury or illness

Figures 3 and 4 summarize the deaths by cause and nature of fatal injury or illness. The term cause refers to the action, lack of action, or circumstances that resulted directly in the fatal injury. The term nature refers to the medical process by which death occurred and is often referred to as cause of death on death certificates and in autopsy reports.2