By FireRescue1 Staff
EMMITSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Fire Administration released their annual report on firefighter line of duty deaths and broke down the details of the deaths that occurred in 2016.
According to the report, 89 firefighters died in the line of duty in 2016, including 23 career firefighters, 56 volunteers and 10 wildland agency members.
The firefighters died in a total of 85 incidents, including three that killed seven firefighters. Two vehicle crashes each killed two wildland firefighters, and one structural collapse killed three career firefighters.
The career firefighters who died were all members of urban or suburban departments, while 37 volunteers that died came from rural areas. The wildland firefighter deaths were evenly split between full-time and part-time firefighters.
The USFA highlighted key takeaways from the report:
- Activities related to emergency incidents resulted in the deaths of 36 firefighters.
- Seventeen firefighters died while engaging in activities at the scene of a fire.
- Ten firefighters died while responding to emergency incidents.
- Nineteen firefighters died as the result of vehicle crashes.
- Heart attacks were the most frequent nature of fatal injury with 40 firefighter deaths.
- Nine firefighters died while they were engaged in training activities.
The report also shows that the amount of firefighter fatalities continues to decrease each year. Since 2007, there have only been three years with more than 100 on-duty deaths, compared to 1996-2006, which saw only three years with fewer than 100 on-duty deaths.
USFA 2016 firefighter fatality report by Ed Praetorian on Scribd