Monday, January 7, 2013

USFA News: 2012 Firefighter Fatality Statistics


 US Fire Administration Releases 2012 Firefighter Fatality Statistics

2012 showed LODD-reduction progress, but there's work still to be done, 83 fatalities were spread across 34 states.


 EMMITSBURG, Md. – The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) announced today a provisional total of 83 on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States as a result of incidents that occurred in 2012, the same number of firefighter losses as in 2011.

View the provisional report »

The 83 fatalities were spread across 34 states. Pennsylvania and North Carolina experienced the highest number of fatalities with nine firefighter deaths each. New York had six firefighter deaths, including the most recent tragic shooting deaths of two firefighters in Webster. California and Texas, each with five firefighter deaths, were the only other states with five or more firefighter fatalities in 2012.

Heart attacks or stroke were responsible for the deaths of 41 firefighters (49%) in 2012. This single year total is a near average proportion of firefighter deaths from heart attack or stroke over recent years. This nature of fatal injury has remained relatively constant, while others, on average, have been reduced during the past decade.

Eleven on-duty firefighters died in association with wildland fires, the same as 2011 and 2010.

The single cause of injury seeing more than a four-fold increase in firefighter deaths during 2012 was vehicle collisions (including aircraft), with 18 deaths.



These 2012 firefighter fatality statistics are provisional and will likely change somewhat as the USFA contacts state fire marshals to verify the names of firefighters reported to have died on duty during 2012. The final number of firefighter fatalities will be reported in USFA's annual firefighter fatality report, expected to be available by July.

Additional firefighter fatality information: including annual firefighter fatality reports from 1986 through 2011 and the Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study 1990–2000, please visit the USFA website.


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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.
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