Could classifying LODDs ultimately help prevent them?

By DEPUTY CHIEF BILLY GOLDFEDER, EFO

Nearly four years after the tragic death of junior volunteer firefighter Christopher Kangas, a U.S. federal appeals court ruled that his family is now eligible to receive Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) through the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), a component of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

In May 2002, Chris, a 14-year-old junior firefighter from the Brookhaven (Penn.) Fire Company, died after being struck by a car while he was on his way to the firehouse for a call. The DOJ originally ruled that Kangas' family was not eligible for the federal benefits provided to the families of public safety officers injured or killed while on duty, because he did not meet the statutory definition of a firefighter.

Chris was a very dedicated young man who loved the fire service. However, these recent events make it likely that the number of LODDs will increase. To me, this begs the question: Is any member of a fire department qualified for LODD benefits and honored status? For example, if a member of the fire department auxiliary is taking coffee or rehab items to a scene and loses their life, will they be covered? The actual answer may not really matter; their dedication is unquestionable. But perhaps we need to look at the "definitions within definitions" of LODDs. Keep in mind that these issues are fresh on my mind as I just returned from a funeral in East Franklin, N.J., for firefighter Kevin Apuzzio, who was killed while heroically trying to rescue a woman from a burning building.

We all know that, for a variety of reasons, there are many classifications of fire department members (i.e., senior firefighters, junior firefighters, fire police officers, drivers and perhaps others) whose families will receive federal benefits in the event of their death. It kinda falls under one LODD umbrella. But maybe, for the purpose of managing the numbers related to preventing and reducing LODDs, we should also start applying specific classification titles to the various situations in which an LODD occurs, such as:

• At training;
• While responding to a dispatched emergency;
• While officially engaged at an emergency scene (on the line, actually fighting the fire or operating equipment that directly impacts the ability to control a fire or save a life);
• While directly attempting to save a life or in the course of a search/rescue;
• While engaged at an emergency scene;
• While returning to the firehouse;
• While engaged in official activities supporting a fire department;
• As a victim of terrorism; and
• 24 hours after any of the above (with the exception of trauma, which is on-going, and all of the above could be divided between medical and trauma).

On one hand, with all the good firefighters and other fire department members do, PSOB should be a given, especially in light of all the money that gets pissed away at the federal level. For example, despite a $371 billion budget deficit and a national debt of $8.5 trillion, the feds continue to support some amazing projects. Now, before you read about such projects in the next paragraph, picture those Texas and Oklahoma firefighters operating 1970s vintage apparatus during the many devastating wildland fires there this year. Think they could use some funding?

Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonprofit and non-partisan organization, recently issued its 16th annual summary of government "pork" spending. The Congressional Pig Book Summary, bound in a bright pink cover, lists almost 400 projects, totaling $3.4 billion, from fiscal year 2006. The projects usually benefit a small group or special interest with money that Congress appropriates, or earmarks, outside of normal budget procedures. Shhhhh.

Some of the highlighted projects include $13.5 million for the International Fund for Ireland that paid for the World Toilet Summit. The good folks in Sparta, N.C., received $500,000 for the Sparta Teapot Museum. (I guess the Sparta Fire Department doesn't need that kind of funding.) Alaska got $47 million for national park upkeep and a visitors' center in the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge. And you've probably read about Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere," a project that gave the state $223 million to build a bridge connecting a town with a population of 8,900 to an island of 50 residents — one more wonderful federal definition of interoperability, or inter-something. In case you're having a good day and want to get really PO'ed, a complete list of these projects can be found on the Citizens Against Government Waste's Web site: www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2006.

When we read about those projects, there's no doubt about whether families of fallen firefighters should receive LODD benefit money. After seeing the waste, maybe all LODD survivors should get $1 million dollars — absolutely true and appropriate spending of our tax dollars. However, with the current climate in Washington these days, is it really that far-fetched to think that funding related to LODDs could become an issue?

Maybe we need to start categorically examining our LODDs to see how we're actually dying in the line of duty, not to save money, but to save firefighters. While all LODDs fall under the umbrella of dedicated firefighters who truly are good folks serving their communities, it doesn't change the fact that there are big differences among the deaths of the following firefighters:

• A 70-plus-year-old, multi-decade, dedicated firefighter who suffered a heart attack while helping at a fire;
• A junior firefighter who was tragically struck and killed on his bicycle;
• The firefighters murdered on 9/11;
• A firefighter struck by a fire apparatus;
• A firefighter who fell from the apparatus cab;
• An unhealthy 300-lb. firefighter who suffered a heart attack;
• A firefighter who rescued a woman trapped in a house fire;
• A firefighter who sustained fatal burns during training; and
• A firefighter killed in a vehicle accident while breaking the traffic laws on the way to a call.

Take a Closer Look
Before completing this article, I had it reviewed by several chiefs who were directly involved with LODDs, as well as some family members who lost loved ones as LODDs. I also had it reviewed by some firefighters who were "right there" when a fellow firefighter lost their life. Why did I ask these folks to read it? Because as much as any of us may write about, teach about or study safety issues to prevent these events, no one understands the feelings experienced by the families and fire personnel who were directly involved. Their input greatly helped the development of this article.

LODDs are undeniably horrible, tragic and heart-wrenching and, when in doubt, the death of a firefighter (or other fire department member) should probably be considered an LODD. But should they all fall under one single category called Firefighter Killed in the Line of Duty? Maybe they should. Maybe there are more important things to worry about, like preventing them. But to prevent LODDs, I think we have to more closely examine who those firefighters were, what led to their deaths and how they died. And by looking at more defined categories, perhaps then we'll be able to see the true numbers and determine if we're really reducing LODDs or not. And by reducing the number of LODDs themselves, we're reducing the number of LODD survivor families who have to worry about whether or not they will receive financial assistance through PSOB. These are important issues, because once we're gone, we're gone. It's our kids, spouse, parents, siblings, friends and whoever else loved us who are left behind, forever thinking about how we died and that we are never coming home again.

William Goldfeder, EFO, is the deputy fire chief of the Loveland-Symmes (Ohio) Fire Department. He is a contributing editor of FireRescue as well as other fire service magazines. Goldfeder is a member of the board of directors of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the September 11th Families Association, and serves as vice chairman of the IAFC's Safety, Health and Survival Section. Goldfeder, along with Gordon Graham, host the Web sites www.FirefighterCloseCalls.com and www.EMSCloseCalls.com.