Code 3 Podcast: Reducing firefighter LODDs

Chief Marc Bashoor discusses how the recent NFPA LODD report accounts for decreasing firefighter LODDs and how to combat the lingering challenges

June 28, 2018 10:39 PM •

Firefighters from the Valdosta Fire Department signal to firefighters from the 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron during live-fire training, April 25, 2018, at Moody Air Force Base, Ga.

The NFPA recently released its annual U.S. Firefighter Fatalities report. It showed a total of 60 U.S. firefighter fatalities while on duty in 2017.

That’s the lowest total reported since 1977, when NFPA began reporting on-duty firefighter fatalities.

Of the 60 fatalities:

32 were volunteer firefighters.
21 were career firefighters.
Three were employees of federal land management agencies.
Two were contractors with federal and state land management agencies.
Two were prison inmates.

The 17 deaths that occurred at fire scenes is the second-lowest number of fire ground deaths since the study’s inception, and the second consecutive year that the number has been below 20.

With me on this episode to discuss the report’s findings is FireRescue1 Executive Editor Chief Marc Bashoor. He’s a former chief of the Prince George’s County Maryland Fire and EMS Department, and the current public safety director, Highlands County, Fla.

Code 3 Podcast with Scott Orr

Code 3 is hosted by award-winning journalist Scott Orr, who has covered the fire/EMS/police beat for most of his 30-plus year career in news. He’s worked around the country in both TV and print. Orr was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease over a decade ago, but that doesn’t stop him from interviewing fire service leaders on issues that concern firefighters around the nation.