Today the NFPA released their latest edition of its “U.S. Firefighter Injuries” 2016 report. The statistics were collected from fire departments responding to NFPA’s annual U.S. Fire Experience survey.
TOTAL FIREFIGHTER INJURED:
There were 62,085 U.S. firefighter injuries in 2016, reflecting an 8.8 percent decrease from 2015, making this the lowest rate of injury since 1981, when NFPA began analyzing firefighter injury data. Of those injuries, 19,050 (30.6 percent) resulted in lost time. Note below also at the significant amount of EXPOSURES Firefighters experienced.
Interestingly, according to the USFA, the 2016 LODD’s were as follows:
TOTAL FIREFIGHTER DEATHS:
==TOTAL: 89 Firefighters (56 volunteer, 23 career and 10 wildland) died while on duty in 2016.
Activities related to emergency incidents resulted in the deaths of 36 firefighters.
==17 Firefighters died while engaging in activities at the scene of a fire.
==10 Firefighters died while responding to emergency incidents.
==19 Firefighters died as the result of vehicle crashes.
==40 Firefighters died from heart attacks-the most frequent nature of fatal injury.
==9 firefighters died while they were engaged in training activities.
*Cancer is not currently nationally recognized as an LODD.
The leading injury types in 2016 were:
==Strains, sprains and/or muscular pains (52.6 percent), and wounds, cuts, bleeding, and bruising (15.2 percent)
Firefighters were more likely to be injured on the fireground resulting in 24,325 (39.2 percent) of the firefighter injuries. The leading cause of injury during fireground operations was overexertion and strain (27.1 percent). Injuries also occurred off the fireground. Other types of duty that resulted in firefighter injury were:
==Non-fire emergency incidents (20.6 percent)
==Other on-duty activities (18.2 percent)
==Training activities (13.7 percent)
While responding to or returning from an incident an estimated 15,425 collisions occurred involving fire department emergency vehicles resulting in 700 firefighter injuries (8.4 percent).
FIREFIGHTER EXPOSURES:
There were also 9,275 documented exposures to infectious diseases (e.g., hepatitis, meningitis, and HIV) in 2016, along with an estimated 36,475 documented exposures to hazardous conditions (e.g., asbestos, chemicals, fumes, and radioactive materials). The documented exposures to hazardous conditions represents a 34 percent increase as compared to 2015.