NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 80

Selected 2018 U.S. Firefighter
Injury Incidents (continued)
from the hospital the following
morning, only to return several
days later with complications
and infection of the burn area.
He followed up with the burn
clinic and ultimately had a skin
graft performed. He returned
to full firefighting activities five
months after the injury but still
attended physical therapy for
nearly a year.
The mayday called by the
victim's partner proved to be
a critical communication that
provided everyone on scene
with an accurate description
of what happened, who was
trapped, where he was located,
and what he needed. During
rescue, the victim was provided with air and water, two
essential elements of RIT team
operations.
The fire department indicated during its near-miss
review that several experienced firefighters were
exhibiting signs of critical
incident stress during the
interviews. The panel immediately ceased the interviews
and contacted the employee
assistance program to provide
services for the members.
BURNED IN STRUCTURE FIRE
A firefighter who was not wearing all of his protective clothing
suffered burns while fighting a
residential fire.
The fire department
responded to a late afternoon
fire in a single-family, woodframe, ranch-style home
constructed in the early 1970s.
Arriving crews found fire
venting out several bedroom
windows.
The first unit on the scene
was the chief, who immediately
established command. The
occupants approached the
chief and told him that everyone was out of the house. The
first engine company arrived
on scene and initiated an
aggressive interior attack by
advancing a hose line through
the attached garage into the
living room. Once the crew was
near the kitchen, they charged
their hose line and began
advancing down the hallway.
With a 27-year-old firefighter
leading the hose line down
the dark hallway, the engine
company could see that the
bedroom had already flashed
over and fire was beginning
to roll over their heads. They
began applying water to the
flames. The officer, who was
right behind the firefighter
leading the hose, could hear
windows breaking as horizontal ventilation was performed
by firefighters outside.

Investigators later determined
that the fire originated in a
bedroom and was reported as
under investigation. The home
did not have working smoke
alarms.
During the fire attack, the
officer heard the nozzle firefighter say that he thought he
was burned. As soon as the
second hand line approached,
approximately 30 to 60 seconds later, and the main body
of fire was knocked down, the
two firefighters abandoned
their hand-line and exited the
building.
The nozzle firefighter suffered second-degree burns to
his ears and neck. The chief
requested that an ambulance
respond and the burned firefighter was transported to the
closest emergency room. He
was treated at the burn clinic
and returned to firefighting
activities nearly two months
after the incident.
The injured firefighter, who
had almost two years' experience, was not wearing his
hood but was wearing the rest
of his protective ensemble in
accordance with the department's standard operating
procedures. The chief stated
that due to the violations of
department policy, the officer
and firefighter were disciplined
and additional training on the
use of protective clothing was
delivered to the department.
STRUCK BY FIRE APPARATUS
ON ICY BRIDGE
A paramedic and a firefighter
were injured trying to avoid a
fire department apparatus that
had gone out of control on an
icy road.
The fire department
received several calls during
an ice storm regarding a motor
vehicle crash, possibly with
entrapment. Two units were
dispatched: an ambulance
staffed with a firefighter and a
paramedic, and a tower ladder
staffed with the assistant chief
and two firefighters.
The medic unit arrived
first and began assessing the
scene. The crash was on a
frozen bridge; the surrounding roadways had not been
treated and were extremely
slippery. As the tower ladder
approached the scene, it
began to slide on the ice. The
truck started turning to the
left and it was apparent to the
responders on scene that it
was heading directly at them.
Three police officers were on
scene and began scattering.
The 21-year-old paramedic
jumped off the bridge, falling

80 | NFPA JOURNAL * N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9

duties. In 2018, 22,975 injuries, or 39 percent of
all firefighter injuries, occurred at the fireground.
This was a 6 percent decrease from the previous
year. Injuries at the fireground have decreased
from a high of 67,500 in 1981, a drop of 66 percent to 2018. The number of fires also declined
steadily, for an overall decrease of 54 percent. The
rate of injuries per 1,000 fires over the past 35
years has fluctuated, however, from a high of 28.3
injuries per 1,000 fires in 1990 and a low of 17.4
injuries per 1,000 fires in 2018.
Overall, the number of injuries at non-fire
emergencies has increased in recent decades, from
9,600 in 1981 to 11,625 in 2018, an increase of 21
percent. During the same period, the number of
non-fire emergencies also increased 360 percent,
due in large part to an increase in the number of
fire department responses to medical emergencies.
The injury rate per 1,000 non-fire emergencies
declined between 1981 and 2018, from 1.2 to 0.3,
largely because the number of non-fire emergencies increased at a higher rate than the number of
injuries at non-fire emergencies.
In addition, 4,150 firefighter injuries occurred
while responding to or returning from incidents
in 2018. Another 8,175 firefighter injuries occurred
during training activities, and 11,325 injuries
occurred during other on-duty activities.

Nature and cause of fireground injuries
The major types of injuries that occurred during
fireground operations were strains and sprains,
which accounted for 38 percent of the injuries;
smoke or gas inhalation, which accounted for
13 percent; wounds, cuts, bleeding, and bruises,
which accounted for 11 percent; and thermal
stress (frostbite or heat exhaustion), which
accounted for 10 percent of injuries. Strains,
sprains, and muscular pain were the leading type
of injury in all firefighter activities and accounted
for 59 percent of all non-fireground injuries, while
wounds, cuts, bleeding, and bruises were the
second leading cause of injury in non-fireground
activities, accounting for 16 percent of non-fireground injuries.
Because fireground injuries are of particular
concern from an occupational hazard perspective, we examined their causes, defined here as
the initial circumstance leading to the injury.
Overexertion or strain was the leading cause of
fireground injuries, with 28 percent of the fireground injury total. Other major causes were falls,
jumps, or slips (18 percent), and exposure to fire
products (17 percent).

Fire department vehicle collisions
In 2018, an estimated 14,425 collisions involved
fire department emergency vehicles responding
to or returning from incidents, a figure similar
to 2017. To put this number in perspective, fire

NFPA Journal - November/December 2019

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