NFPA Journal - July/August 2013 - (Page 68)

2012 firefighter fatalities the roof of the building they were working in collapsed, trapping them inside. At 12:15 p.m., a police officer on patrol reported a fire in a downtown movie theatre. The officer was also the chief of the victim’s fire department. He evacuated the exposures and returned to the front of the building and verified with the owners, who were on scene, that no one was inside the theatre. The theatre, a one-story structure with an attic, was of ordinary construction, measured 50 feet by 100 feet (15 meters by 30 meters), and was built in 1948. A bowstring truss system supported the roof. Renovation of the theatre in 1996 added a new ceiling 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 centimeters) below the existing ceiling. The first fire company arrived at 12:21 p.m, reported fire showing from the front of the building, and set up to work from that location. A responding mutual-aid company was instructed to go to the rear of the building and work from there. The fire departments attacked the fire from opposite sides of the building, both establishing their own incident commander, accountability system, and fire ground operations. The fire companies in the front of the building initially fought the fire defensively. The 34-year-old fire lieutenant and two firefighters of the mutual-aid company, dressed in full protective clothing including self-contained breathing apparatus, entered the rear of the building at 12:45 p.m. They did not encounter fire and advanced a charged hose line through the theatre to the back of the lobby where they located fire. The roof collapsed sometime prior to 12:57 p.m., but no mention of collapse or trapped firefighters was relayed to dispatch. At the time of the fire, the temperature was in the 20°F to 29°F (–6.6°C to –1.6°C) range. There were varying amounts of accumulated snow in the area. Photographs taken during the incident reveal that there could have been up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow and ice on the roof. In additiont, water was sprayed onto the roof from an elevated master stream during suppression operations. Additional fire companies and EMS units were called to the scene after the roof collapsed. The two firefighters were removed from under debris in the building and transported to the hospital 68 NFPA JOURNAL JULY/AUGUST 2013 Of the two who died in roof collapses, one was killed when the bowstring truss roof of a movie theater collapsed during a fire, and the other when the roof of a restaurant collapsed. Sudden cardiac death claimed the lives of two of the 12 firefighters who died in structure fires, one at a chemical plant and the other at a warehouse. That warehouse was the only structure that had an automatic suppression system. The wet-pipe sprinkler system operated, with seven heads opening. The system was effective in controlling the fire but did not extinguish it. Six of the eight victims at wildland fires were killed in two aircraft crashes. One firefighter was struck by a falling snag—part of a dead tree—and a contracted tree feller suffered a fatal cardiac event. The firefighter who died while directing traffic at a motor vehicle fire suffered a stroke. Cause and nature of fatal injury or illness Half of the firefighter deaths in 2012 resulted from overexertion, stress, and medical issues. Of the 32 deaths in this category, 27 were sudden cardiac deaths, usually heart attacks; three were due to strokes; and one was the result of heat stroke. One man died on duty as a result of a long-term illness. The second leading cause of fatal injury was being struck by, or coming into contact with, an object. Among the 24 firefighters in this category, 16 died in motor vehicle crashes, three were struck by motor vehicles, three were hit by falling trees, and two were shot to death. The next leading cause of fatal injury was being caught or trapped, which resulted in six deaths. Four firefighters were killed in three separate structure fires when roofs or walls collapsed. Rapid fire progress in a structure fire resulted in the death of one of the firefighters, and the other drowned during dive training. Two firefighters were killed in falls. One fell from an aerial ladder during training, and the other fell from the back step of a tanker when it skidded on an icy road. In that second incident, the driver of the apparatus drove away while the victim was still on the back step after filling a dump tank at a structure fire. Sudden cardiac deaths In 2012, the 27 sudden cardiac deaths that occurred while the victims were on duty is the lowest number of cardiac deaths since this study began in 1977. Last year was also the fifth consecutive year in which they declined. The number of deaths in this category has fallen significantly since the early years of this study. From 1977 through 1986, an average of 60 firefighters a year suffered sudden cardiac deaths while on duty, accounting for 44.7 percent of the on-duty deaths during that period. These are cases where the onset of symptoms occurred while the victim was on duty, and death occurred immediately or shortly thereafter. The average number of annual deaths fell to 44 in the 1990s and to 37 in the past decade. In spite of this reduction, sudden cardiac death still accounted for 42 percent of the on-duty deaths in the last five years. Overall, sudden cardiac death is the number one cause of on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States and usually accounts for the largest share of deaths in any given year. For 20 of the 27 victims of sudden cardiac events in 2012, autopsy results showed that 14 were hypertensive, 11 had arteriosclerotic heart disease, eight were obese, five had coronary artery disease, five were diabetic, and eight were reported to have had a history of cardiac problems, such as previous heart attacks, bypass surgery, or angioplasty or stent placement. Some of the victims had more than one condition. Other risk factors of the victims of sudden cardiac death included high cholesterol, smoking, and family history. Medical documentation was not available for the other seven firefighters. Sudden cardiac death accounts for a higher proportion of the deaths among older firefighters, as might be

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - July/August 2013

NFPA Journal - July/August 2013
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
Firewatch
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Loud + Clear
Allied in Safety
Front Burner
Firefighter Fatalities in the United States, 2012
Fire Analysis + Research
Section Spotlight
What’s Hot
Looking Back

NFPA Journal - July/August 2013