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On September 27, 2005 The United States
Fire Administration released the report
Firefighter Fatalities in the United
States in 2004. This report details
the circumstances and trends found in
the 117 firefighter deaths experienced
by the United States in 2004. Firefighters
that died on-duty in 2004 represent
forty-one (41) states. Pennsylvania
suffered the largest number of deaths
with 18 firefighter fatalities. In 2004,
36 career
firefighters and 81 volunteer firefighters
lost their lives serving their communities.
"The challenge to reduce firefighter
fatalities is one the entire fire service
needs to take an active role in addressing.
Many of our firefighter fatalities could
be prevented by simple steps to enhance
safety such as using seat belts, reducing
speed while responding, and
improved training," said Deputy
United States Fire Administrator Charlie
Dckinson. "The USFA looks forward
to working with the many fire organizations
and departments to continue the development
and implementation of the sixteen Everyone
Goes Home firefighter safety initiatives."
Eighty firefighters died in activities
directly related to emergency incidents.
This includes all firefighters who died
while responding to an emergency, while
at an emergency scene, or while returning
from the emergency incident. Non-emergency
activities accounted for 37 fatalities.
Non-emergency duties include training,
administrative activities, or performing
other functions that are not related
to an emergency incident.
Two Pittsburgh firefighters were killed
in the collapse of a burning church,
two Nebraska firefighters were killed
in the collapse of a burning single-family
residence, and two Philadelphia firefighters
were killed when they became trapped
in the basement of a burning home. The
Philadelphia Fire Department also suffered
the loss of a firefighter in a January
structure fire.
Six female firefighters died in 2004.
This level of female deaths has only
been exceeded once in the past when
four female firefighters perished in
a single incident in 1994.
The leading type of duty being performed
by firefighters that died in 2004 was
working on the scene of a fire incident.
Thirty firefighters died while working
on fire scenes.
- The second leading type of duty was
responding and returning from an
incident scene with 22 deaths. Over
half of these deaths were in vehicle
crashes.
2004 had the highest level of stress
or overexertion-related deaths in over
a decade. There were 66 firefighter
deaths that were attributed to stress
and overexertion in 2004.
In 2004, 61 firefighters died of heart
attacks, 4 died of strokes, and 1 firefighter
died of a heart-related cause.
The report also contains detailed information
on healthy eating and safety during
specific components of emergency response.
The report may be ordered in hardcopy
or downloaded in portable document format
(PDF) from the USFA Web site at
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/applications/publications/display.cfm?it=9-0831.
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