FIREFIGHTER FATALITIES: THE PREVENTABLE LOSSES

Firefighting has long been recognized as a challenging and physically demanding job. In the past 100 years, technological advances have assisted firefighters in confining and extinguishing fires. Among the areas in which these improvements can be seen are communications, firefighting gear and equipment, aerial ladders, and the speed with which water can reach the seat of a fire. However, despite all the technological advances, with the exception of some sprinklered occupancies, there is still a reliance on firefighters to enter a burning building with a hoseline to extinguish the fire.

Although the technological advances may lead some to believe that firefighters are safer today, the average number of annual firefighter deaths has not gone down significantly. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports that fewer civilian fire fatalities occurred over the past 25 years, from approximately 7,400 citizens in the mid-1970s to about 4,000 in the year 2000. Conversely, firefighter fatalities have been reduced only nominally. In 1978, there were 171 fire deaths; the lowest number of recorded firefighter deaths occurred in 1992, when 75 firefighters lost their lives.1 According to the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), one firefighter dies in the line of duty every 80 hours.2 On October 9, 2005, 101 firefighters from 34 states, who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2004, were remembered at the annual Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Weekend.

Although there has been tangible progress in combating the national fire problem, there has been only limited progress in preventing the loss of firefighters. In fact, with fewer civilian fire fatalities, nearly half the number of reported fires in 2000 compared with 1977, and nearly 10,000 fewer fire-related fire injuries, it could easily be argued that the pendulum has gone against the fire service in terms of firefighter fatalities. With fewer fires and fewer civilian fatalities and injuries, there should be fewer firefighter fatalities. But that is not the case.