Sunday, June 28, 2009
The NFPA has released their report about Firefighter Fatalities in the U.S. 2008. Rita Fahy, one of the authors, has recently done a podcast if you would like to check it out. There is also one that Mike Karter has done on the Patterns of Firefighter Fireground Injuries.
PLEASE TAKE NOTE TO AVOID CONFUSION: ...the NFPA calculates LODD's differently that the United States Fire Administration and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation:
The way the NFPA looks at on-duty (LODD) deaths shows 103 Firefighter LODD's. On the other hand, the USFA's report stated that there were 114 on-duty firefighter fatalities during the same time period.
Based upon the NFPA's determination on an on duty LODD in 2008, a total of 103 on-duty firefighter deaths occurred in the U.S. This is the same number of deaths (using the NFPA calculations) as occurred in the U.S. in 2007, and the fourth time in the last 10 years that the annual total has been 103. The largest share of deaths (39 deaths) occurred while firefighters were responding to or returning from emergency calls. This includes a single incident which resulted in nine deaths. Stress, exertion, and other medical-related issues, which usually result in heart attacks or other sudden cardiac events, continued to account for the largest number of fatalities.
