By Matt Kapko
FireRescue1 News Editor
A new report released by the United States Fire Administration this week announced that 115 firefighters died while on duty in 2005. An additional four died resulting from injuries sustained while on duty from previous years.
“One of the most difficult elements in this job is to hear that annual number of onduty firefighter deaths,” Acting United States Fire Administrator Charlie Dickinson said. “Across the country, over one hundred more families are struggling with the terrible losses of loved ones, from an 18-year old firefighter in training to the 55 firefighters who suffered fatal heart attacks.”
During the year, there were four incidents that took the lives of more than one firefighter. Two New York city firefighters died in January when rapid fire progress forced them to jump from a fire-involved structure; three firefighters were killed in the crash of a helicopter in Texas in March as they assisted with a controlled burn; two Wyoming firefighters died in a residential structure fire in April; and three firefighters were killed in the crash of an airtanker in California.
Heart attacks were the leading cause of firefighter deaths. It resulted in 55 deaths in 2005, which is lower than the 61 deaths it caused in 2004. Six firefighters died of Cerebral Vascular Accidents (CVAs) while vehicle crashes took 25 lives.
The average age of firefighters who died in 2005 was 47 years — the youngest was 18 and the oldest was 76, according to the report titled “Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2005.”
“Positive strides are being made through the growth of new and active firefighter health and safety programs, national safety stand downs, and the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation’s Everyone Goes Home efforts,” Dickinson emphasized. “USFA is committed to doing everything we can to reduce these losses and hopefully all fire departments will share and join our commitment to protect all firefighters serving their communities.”
The entire report is available for download in PDF at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-306-508.pdf.
Additional information on firefighter fatalities, including the annual fatality reports from 1986 through 2004 and the Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study 1990-2000, can be found at USFA’s Web site: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fatalities/.