Reflecting on 2005 wildland fatalities

By GENE MADDEN

In the beginning of November, I really thought the year was going to pass with less than double-digit wildland fatalities. Sadly, I was wrong. In 2005, 12 people from the wildland firefighting community did not make it home at the end of their shift.

Main Causes

PHOTO KARI GREER In 2005, driving accidents were among the leading causes of wildland firefighter deaths.

In 2005, driving accidents and aviation accidents were the leading causes of wildland deaths (three in each category), accounting for 50 percent of all fatalities last year. Three deaths (25 percent) were associated with cardiovascular disease. Smoke inhalation/burns, snags and electrocution accounted for the remaining three fatalities on wildland incidents, with one death in each category. And  half the deaths (6 or 50 percent) in 2005 involved volunteer fire departments.

The good news: We didn't lose as many people as we did in 2004. Although one fatality is one too many, this past year's 12 wildland fatalities represent a 45-percent reduction in wildland firefighter deaths from the previous year, when 20 individuals lost their lives on wildland incidents. "I'm heartened by this news," says Kirk Rodenbaugh, chair of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). "Perhaps we were focused on hurricane response more than wildfires last year and that lowered our exposure. But for whatever reasons this number is down, I'm thankful; reducing firefighter deaths and serious injuries is the main reason why this group [the NWCG] exists."

Important: The last time a Safety and Health Working Team's (SHWT) Safety Gram reported less than double-digit wildland fatalities for one year was in 1993, when eight firefighters died. But many of you certainly remember what happened the following year—35 wildland firefighters lost their lives, including the 14 who perished on Storm King Mountain. The point: Fewer fatalities in 2005 doesn't necessarily mean we're improving our safety skills, so don't pop the cork on that champagne bottle just yet. We've still got a ways to go.

Between 1910 and 2005, approximately 929 people lost their lives fighting wildfires in the United States.

PHOTO KARI GREER In 2005, driving accidents were among the leading causes of wildland firefighter deaths.

Close Calls
Last year, six close calls were reported to incident personnel on wildland fire operations, including wildfires and prescribed fire operations that involved entrapments and/or burnovers of firefighters and/or equipment. Most of these close calls resulted in some level of thermal injury to the firefighter, but the most serious burn injury to a firefighter on a wildland incident occurred in Cameron Garden, Texas, on Nov. 30; it was the very last reported serious accident of 2005. Because he wasn't wearing the appropriate PPE,  the volunteer firefighter sustained second- (partial thickness) and third-degree (full thickness) burns over 25 percent of his body. Only three fire shelter deployments were reported last year (on the Tarkio Fire/I-90 Complex in Montana), all of which resulted in no injuries to personnel.

The Role of the Safety & Health Working Team
Every year, the SHWT collects data on wildland fatalities, entrapments/burnovers and serious accidents, endeavoring to accurately verify the information it receives by communicating with reporting parties and with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). "While many bits of information may be collected in the development of our report, we [the SHWT] really rely most upon the submission of the Wildland Fire Entrapment/Fatality Initial Report [NFES 0869] from the responsible agency," says Stan Palmer, Bureau of Land Management Safety Manager and long-time SHWT member and advisor. "That report and the confirming information received from the NFPA form the basis for [our] annual report."

First 2006 Fatality The first death associated with a wildland fire this year involved a 28-year-old volunteer firefighter in Rose Hills, Kan., who collapsed and died in January after returning home from battling a midday grass fire. Although this incident might not warrant inclusion in a Safety Gram, it emphasizes the serious effects fighting wildfires can have year-round on everyone in the wildland community. Since completing this article, wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma have been particularly fierce. A number of firefighters have sustained injuries due to smoke inhalation, dozer accidents and burns.

I recommend you visit the SHWT's Web site at www.nwcg.gov/teams/shwt/safetygram2.htm and review the annual Safety Gram report. While you're there, also take the time to review previous years' reports. Doing so just might give you the starting point you need for an excellent annual refresher safety training program or a tailgate safety session, which just might save a life.

Where to Go
If you have any additional information about one of the 2005 wildland fatality incidents or if you have information you'd like to add to a previous Safety Gram Annual Report, or if you'd like to provide information about a fatality, entrapment/burnover or major accident not listed in any report, read the reporting criteria at www.nwcg.gov/teams/shwt/saftygram_criteria.pdf.

For more information on wildland fatality statistics, you can also visit the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Web site at www.wildfirelessons.net.

Here's hoping we all have a safe 2006 wildfire season.

Gene Madden, an SOFI, is the chairman of the NWCG Safety and Health Working Team and a member of the NWCG Emergency Medical Support Group. Madden is employed as the division safety officer for the Florida Division of Forestry and is an IOFI and a medical unit leader. E-mail him at maddeng@doacs.state.fl.us.