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Aaaaaaand the Stats to Prove that We're Still Killing Ourselves the Same Old Way
USFA report highlights lack of seat belt use in '07
By FireRescue 1 Staff
A lack of seat belt use accounted for a number of vehicle-related LODDs last year, according to the USFA.
The Firefighter Fatalities in the United States 2007 report reveals that in 19 of the 27 incidents where seat belt status was known, 11 firefighters were confirmed as not wearing seat belts at the time of the incident.
During calendar year 2007, a total of 118 firefighters lost their lives while on duty across the United States, according to the report.
"One of the greatest challenges we face as a fire service is to stop the needless deaths of firefighters while in service to their communities," Fire Administrator Greg Cade said.
Heart attacks were again the most frequent cause of on-duty firefighters deaths, while wildland-related firefighting fatalities dropped to the lowest number in more than a decade.
A breakdown of the report reveals:
68 volunteer firefighters and 50 career firefighters died while on duty.
There were 7 firefighter fatality incidents where 2 or more firefighters were killed, claiming a total of 21 firefighters' lives.
11 firefighters were killed during activities involving brush, grass, or wildland firefighting, the lowest in over a decade.
Activities related to emergency incidents resulted in the deaths of 76 firefighters.
38 firefighters died while engaging in activities at the scene of a fire.
26 firefighters died while responding to or returning from emergency incidents.
11 firefighters died while they were engaged in training activities.
15 firefighters died after the conclusion of their on-duty activity.
Heart attacks were the most frequent cause of death for 2007, with 52 firefighter deaths.
And there you have it, hard data that proves that we're just as stupid as suspected.....
By FireRescue 1 Staff
A lack of seat belt use accounted for a number of vehicle-related LODDs last year, according to the USFA.
The Firefighter Fatalities in the United States 2007 report reveals that in 19 of the 27 incidents where seat belt status was known, 11 firefighters were confirmed as not wearing seat belts at the time of the incident.
During calendar year 2007, a total of 118 firefighters lost their lives while on duty across the United States, according to the report.
"One of the greatest challenges we face as a fire service is to stop the needless deaths of firefighters while in service to their communities," Fire Administrator Greg Cade said.
Heart attacks were again the most frequent cause of on-duty firefighters deaths, while wildland-related firefighting fatalities dropped to the lowest number in more than a decade.
A breakdown of the report reveals:
68 volunteer firefighters and 50 career firefighters died while on duty.
There were 7 firefighter fatality incidents where 2 or more firefighters were killed, claiming a total of 21 firefighters' lives.
11 firefighters were killed during activities involving brush, grass, or wildland firefighting, the lowest in over a decade.
Activities related to emergency incidents resulted in the deaths of 76 firefighters.
38 firefighters died while engaging in activities at the scene of a fire.
26 firefighters died while responding to or returning from emergency incidents.
11 firefighters died while they were engaged in training activities.
15 firefighters died after the conclusion of their on-duty activity.
Heart attacks were the most frequent cause of death for 2007, with 52 firefighter deaths.
And there you have it, hard data that proves that we're just as stupid as suspected.....
Add a Comment
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Comment by Dustin J. Millis on August 15, 2008 at 11:38am
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I also get some wierd looks when i jump in the rig and throw on my seatbelt but those certainly are not gone keep me from wearing it. I grew up having to wear my seatbelt wherever we went so its just kinda natrual for me to do so. Anyway, if you dont wear your seatbelt, WEAR IT!!! If you already do, try your hardest to convince your fellow ff's to do the same!
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Comment by Tony Tricarico on August 15, 2008 at 10:41am
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Thanks Chris,
I will try to touch base with Mike again, he is very busy. Hope to see you soon
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Comment by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on August 15, 2008 at 10:06am
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Hey Capt';
In regards to your previous post re: your seat belting ideas, get a hold of Lt. Mike Wilbur, FDNY L-27. He's actively involved in a number of apparatus enhancement issue w/ the mfg. and the NFPA.
Missed the time to stop and say heleo toyou in Baltimore at the Expo, Stay safe brother...
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When I am pulling up to a working fire I am fully geared up and climbing out of the apparatus when it stops. All of my gear is in place and I am continuing size up as I approach the command post or the structure, depandant upon my arrival sequence. It's a routine I have been using for many years and it works for me. I guess after doing soemthing for thirty plus years you develop a routine and I use it to make sure I do not forget anything.
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Comment by Art Sutherland on August 14, 2008 at 10:17pm
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1) I always see where people say 25% of Fire Fighters die do to accidents. On the Niosh site I broke down the 25% with the help of a reply from Niosh. It seems in the 25% it accounts for things like, a Fire Fighter dieing riding a peddle bike when he was struck and killed while responding, Fire Fighters that have been hit and killed while on the roadway during an MVA etc.
My question is, what is the right % of Fire Fighters killed while responding in their Pov, what is the right % of Fire Fighters killed while responding in Fire Trucks, what is the right % of Fire Fighters that take a heart attack while responding....or when returning.
Whem saying 25% due to accidents it sounds like MVA's, it should read Exsample: 5% Pov's, 6% Tankers, 3% heart attacks etc. etc.
Seat Belts... I always wear a seat belt and so does everyone in my family. To me and the reports I have spent days and nights reading it seems it always comes down to driver error. We have cut people out of cars that were wearing seat belts and without, some lived and some didn't.
I have drove a taxi for 12 years and have never put a seat belt on, taxi drivers here don't have to wear seat belts. The reason is because a person could get in the back seat and when they pull the seat belt back on you, you have no chance on getting out. In our area there has never been a taxi driver killed due to not wearing a seat belt.
Don't take this the wrong way, I think seat belts should be used all the time. Fire Fighters are being killed while responding due to driver error the seat belt would of helped some and not others.
The always say taxi drivers are bad drivers...hmmm
We always stress what a Fire Truck can do in the blink of an eye, if someone is seen driving a truck to fast they can stay out of the driver seat.
As a Volunteer I found when going threw the reports that Volunteers seem to be in alot of trouble when it comes to smashing fire trucks. Most Volunteers only ever drove a car or 1/2 ton truck and they jump in a fire truck and put it to the floor. Seat belt or no seat belt I am not getting in a truck with any knew guy until he understands how water shifts in a truck.
TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING
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Comment by Ben Waller on August 14, 2008 at 9:33pm
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Tony, why would you wear your gloves in the cab?
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I think we need a "Friendlier" seat belt for the firefighters. Something that goes on easily, is not in the way and the big one....realeases easily. I know you have tried to unlock a seatbelt with gloves on. I have some ideas but do not really know where to go with them.
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Comment by LadyChaplain on August 14, 2008 at 11:01am
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I STILL get looks from my fellow ff's when I hop in the truck and grab my seatbelt. One time, I was putting my seatbelt on and the OIC in the front seat looks back and says "I've seen just as many injuries related to wearing seatbelts as I have people who didn't wear them... my chances are 50-50. I'll be okay" WTF!?
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Comment by Kimberly A Bownas on August 14, 2008 at 8:40am
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That is a shock, but it is still the law for drivers and their passengers to were seatbelts in general. As far as I am concerned that means 1st responders as well. We have to follow all the traffic and safety laws when we driver and this is no different...
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Comment by Mary Ellen Shea on August 14, 2008 at 8:37am
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From the Times Union in 2007:
Unbuckled seat belts can turn would-be rescuers into victims themselves
By Bryan Chu
The Times Union (Albany, New York)
Copyright 2007 The Times Union
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
ALBANY, N.Y. — An emergency radio scanner crackles. An alarm sounds. Fire police officers suit up, jump into their vehicles and rush to the scene.
The only problem is that fire police, and their fellow firefighters, often forget to do the very thing they ask of other drivers -- buckle their seat belts.
Then, instead of being the rescuers, they can become the victims.
Take the case of Edgar Scott, a 75-year-old Menands volunteer fire police captain, who died when his box-van collided with a propane tanker while making a U-turn on Interstate 787. Scott, who was not wearing a seat belt, was tossed from his vehicle.
Scott and other fire police -- who are in charge of crowd and traffic control at emergency scenes -- account for the largest percentage of on-duty deaths for those in the fire service industry, including paid and volunteer.
And, among both fire police and firefighters killed, failing to wear seat belts already has been cited more often this year than last, according to the United States Fire Administration. Of nine killed this year, six were not wearing seat belts and were thrown from their vehicles. Of the eight who died in 2006, two were not wearing seat belts. The worst year in the past five was in 2003, when 30 were killed, eight of whom were not wearing seat belts.
"This is a huge problem," said Kelvin Cochran, second vice president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, a nonprofit professional association of more than 12,000. "We've seen enough deaths this year. We need to take drastic measures to change this trend."
A seat belt mandate is not on the books for fire departments in New York. Actually, the state is one of 37 that does not mandate seat belt use for all firefighters, according to 2003 figures from Critical Incident Stress Management Perspectives Inc., a training and consulting practice that prepares fire departments for deaths among its membership.
The state's seat belt laws include an emergency responder exemption that excuses firefighters and fire police from buckling up. According to the Fireman's Association of the State of New York, the exemption exists because every second counts and being held up by a seat belt could cost a life.
But the anti-seat belt use rationale could be deeper than that. Members of fire departments believe they are immune to injury, said Daniel McGuire, president of Critical Incident, which was recently hired by the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs to give three-hour workshops to every county in New York until 2008.
"They think nothing is going to happen to (them)," he said. "There's a real machismo attitude."
That occurs against a backdrop of New York having more on-duty fatalities overall than any other state last year. Fourteen died, accounting for 13.3 percent of deaths nationwide, the national fire administration reports. From 2001 to 2006, there were 59 on-duty fatalities in New York (excluding deaths during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001).
Among fire service deaths nationally, some 25 percent occur when firefighters and fire police are responding to or returning from incidents, the national fire administration reports.
In a November 2003 poll by Firehouse.com -- a Web site used by firefighters and fire chiefs -- more than 11,000 people responded to the topic of seat belt usage. Forty-five percent answered they don't wear seat belts at all times when responding to emergencies. In the same poll from April, 36 percent of 8,000 people said they don't wear seat belts.
Wynantskill fire police Capt. Richard Trumbull, who requires seat belt usage at his fire department, doesn't understand why this is happening.
"It's common sense," he said. "If you want to survive, then you need to wear a seat belt."
Nationwide campaigns are pressing fire departments to require seat belt usage.
The "Everyone Goes Home Tour," started by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, aims to reduce the number of fire service on-duty deaths by urging such safety protocols as seat belt usage. The nonprofit foundation based in Emmitsburg, Md., was created by Congress.
Dr. Burton A. Clark, a volunteer firefighter in Laurel, Md., started another campaign pushing fire departments across the nation to wear seat belts. Clark started the National Seat Belt Pledge after Christopher Brian Hunton, 27, of the Amarillo, Texas, fire department died in April 2005 from injuries suffered in an accident. He was not wearing his seat belt. So far, 28,000 firefighters have signed the pledge vowing to buckle up.
"This is something we can stop overnight," Clark said. "Most fire departments have rules, but they don't enforce, they just ignore it. Consequently, it creates a culture of unsafe behavior."
Cochran's solution for seat-belt awareness at his fire department in Shreveport, La., is a three-strike rule that could result in a fine or suspension by the third infraction. No one has received a third strike.
The National Fire Protection Association -- an international nonprofit organization that advocates fire prevention and public safety out of its Quincy, Mass., headquarters -- has a national seat belt policy that many fire departments have adopted. The policy states: "All persons riding in fire apparatus shall be seated and belted securely by seat belts in approved riding positions at any time the vehicle is in motion."
While the Capital Region continues to mourn the death of Scott, many fire police and firefighters are voicing a need for change and more safety awareness among their peers.
"You need to be safe yourself before you can help others," said Brooke Wagner, a fire police officer at the Averill Park & Sand Lake Fire Department.
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