Analysis aims at safer future
Regardless of the issue involved, simple statistics never tell the whole story. For instance, the numbers that represent annual on-duty fire fighter deaths reveal very little useful information until the trends they reflect and the incidents behind them are studied.

That sad and very important task is performed by the United States Fire Administration (USFA), which has announced that 110 fire fighters died while on their jobs across the nation in 2003. The purpose of the USFA in this regard is to analyze information about fire fighter deaths, in order to identify any existing patterns and to make recommendations that may help reduce fatalities in the future.

The agency's initial reported observation was that the total number of such fatalities was higher in 2003 than had been recorded in most previous years since 1993. In fact, current data shows that despite advances in training and technology, the number of fire fighter deaths per year has actually gone up over several recent years.

This brought a timely response from MAFF Director Michael J. O'Lear. "Our job obviously continues to be more demanding," he commented, "and this places the emphasis on constantly improved training and technology. (See related FDIC story.)

"Our focus, as professionals, clearly has to be on both physical and educational preparation."

The numbers for 2003 - during which 36 states and Guam had at least one fire fighter die - are provisional and subject to change while the USFA verifies the data. Still, the overall figure appears to continue a pattern that emerged over the previous decade: between 1993 and 2003, the average number of fire fighter deaths per year, not including those killed in 2001 at the World Trade Center, was 98. However, in 2000 there were 100 deaths, in 2001 there were 98 (other than the 346 World Trade Center fatalities), and in 2002 there were 100.

The general upward trend can be seen more clearly in the following on-duty fatality numbers recorded over the past decade: 1993-77; 1994-104; 1995-97; 1996-95; 1997-95; 1998-91; 1999-113; 2000-103; 2001-98, plus the 346 World Trade Center deaths, totaling 444; 2002-100; 2003-110.

Heart attacks were the most frequent cause of death (38 percent of all on-duty fatalities) in 2003, claiming the lives of at least 42 fire fighters. The victims' ages ranged from 35 to 81, with an average age of 52.7.

This was not unusual. Heart attacks have been a top killer in every year studied by the USFA, although in 2001 the total they accounted for was dwarfed by the toll of terrorism at the World Trade Center. There were 31 fatal heart attacks in 2002, 34 in 2001, 30 in 2000 and 54 in 1999.

The majority of the other fire fighters who died on duty in 2003 suffered traumatic injuries from motor vehicle accidents, wildfires, training accidents or falls, or were killed during operations at structure fires. Sixty fire fighters, or 55 percent of all fire fighters who died on duty in 2003, suffered injuries from these types of activities; most often motor vehicle accidents. Some of the year's highest-profile tragedies involved vehicle accidents, including a crash that claimed eight Oregon fire fighters on their way home from a wildfire in South Fork, Idaho, and a drunk driving crash that killed 16 year old Wyoming fire explorer Anndee Huber.

Nine fire fighters died last year as a result of traumatic injuries sustained at structure fires. Four of these occurred during multiple fatality incidents.

John Garman and Kenneth Jutte of the New Bremen German Township Fire Department in Ohio were hosing down dust in a lumber company silo in an effort to avoid an explosion. However an explosion did occur, killing them an injuring others. Also, Charles Zachary and Trent A Kirk of the Memphis, Tennessee Fire Department died from injuries they received when they became trapped inside of a burning store.

There were seven deaths dud to traumatic injuries sustained during operations at wildfires. One of the most publicized of these tragedies occurred when Novato, California Fire Fighter Steve Rucker died after he and two members of his crew were overrun by flames while operating at the Cedar fire in San Diego County.

Two fire fighters, Jeff Allen and Shane Heath of the U.S. Forest Service in Salmon, Idaho died during a multiple fatality wildfire incident when they were trapped by fast moving flames on the Cramer Fire. Another fire fighter was seriously burned when he was overcome by fire progress during a prescribed burn project; he died from the injuries a month later.

There were three deaths due to crashes of helicopters while they were operating at wildfires. One pilot was killed when he crashed while fighting the McGinnis Flats fire in Washington. Also, Fire Fighter Randall Bonito, Jr. and pilot Jess Pearce were killed when their helicopter crashed while taking fire fighters from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to begin an initial attack on a fire in the Aspen Ridge area of Arizona.

In addition to the crashes that occurred during wildfire operations, there were several fatal helicopter accidents that occurred while they were scouting water holes for future forest fire suppression activities.

Pilot Carl Dolbeare and copilot John Attardo died when their air tanker crashed (the cause is yet to be determined) near Redlands, California during non-emergency duty. Charles Krenek of the Texas Forest Service died in a helicopter mishap while he and his crew were doing non-emergency duty. Charles Krenek of the Texas Forest Service died in a helicopter mishap while he and his crew were doing an aerial search for Space Shuttle Columbia debris.

Motor vehicle accidents were the second leading cause of death for fire fighters in 2003, claiming 25 lives. These included accidents involving fire fighters' personal vehicles, as well as fire apparatus.

The crash that took the lives of eight Oregon fire fighters who were on their way home from a wildfire in South Fork, Idaho was the largest multiple fatality incident of 2003. Conflicting results from several blood tests done on the driver have raised the question of whether alcohol was a factor in the crash. Charges of reckless endangerment and drunken driving were filed against the fire fighter's employer.

Alcohol was confirmed to be a factor in the rollover crash that killed 16 year old Wyoming fire explorer Anndee Huber. Huber, a 10th grader. She was ejected from the cab of a tanker and trapped underneath when the driver lost control of the vehicle. The fire fighter at the wheel pleaded guilty in July to aggravated vehicular homicide.

Another 16 year old youth fire fighter, Karlton Allen Cole Briscoe of the Hickory Flat Volunteer Fire Department in Mississippi, died after he crashed into a ravine while responding to an alarm in his private vehicle.

Another unusual motor vehicle accident occurred when Fire Fighter Shane Brown of DeSoto Parish Fire District 8 in Louisiana was killed when his car was hit by a freight train.

Six fire fighters died during the year from injuries sustained when they were struck by motor vehicles. Most of these deaths occurred while the victims were working at incidents along the side of the road and were hit by passing motorists.

One of these tragedies claimed Assistant Chief Don Billig of the St. Cloud Fire Department in Minnesota as he was replacing a barricade blocking a construction zone. A passing pickup truck struck his crew's truck and then struck Billig, killing him. The driver of the pickup left the scene on foot but then turned himself into law enforcement officials the next morning.

A more unusual accident occurred when one fire fighter was struck and killed by department apparatus. Barry D. Lutsy of the Racine Volunteer Fire Department in West Virginia was struck by a vehicle while it was being backed up into a bay at the fire station after a call.

There were two deaths due to traumatic injuries sustained during training exercises. Captain Wayne Dillon of the Washington Parish Fire District in Louisiana was participating in a driver training exercise when his tanker overturned. Fire Fighter Recruit Wayne Mitchell, 37, of Florida's Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was overcome by heat during simulated shipboard fire training at the Resolve Marine Fire School and died while in transit to the hospital.

Six fire fighters died in 2003 from injuries sustained from falls. (There were no reports in 2003 of firefighter deaths due to jumping.) Melinda Ohler of the San Francisco Fire Department died from head injuries received after she fell out of the back of the open cab of the fire apparatus she was riding as it responded to what turned out to be a false alarm.

In a similar incident, Jason Lee Ellis of the Loretto, Tennessee Fire Department suffered critical head injuries when he fell from the back of a moving vehicle. Ellis was traveling from a training area to the front of the campus at the Tennessee Fire Service and Codes Enforcement Academy. He died a week after the incident.

Two fire fighters died after they fell from ladders, while another passed out due to a cardiac arrhythmia and was injured fatally when he struck his head on the pavement.Another suffered a head injury after falling from a lawnmower while cutting his department's lawn in the area of an incline.

There were no reports of firefighter deaths from drowning in 2003.

Eight firefighters died of illnesses or undetermined causes while on duty. One notable case was that of Barry M. Bennett, 49, who died as a result of an on-duty exposure to the Hepatitis C virus.

The USFA reports that Bennett, a member of the Cambridge, Massachusetts Fire Department, was punctured by a needle while rendering assistance at a medical emergency on October 15, 1987. The exposure was reported immediately and Bennett began a course of medical treatment and observation. After testing positive for Hepatitis C, he began a more aggressive form of treatment.

He was promoted to Lieutenant on September 18, 1998 and continued to work until early 2003, when he could no longer perform his duties, the USFA reorted. Bennett received a liver transplant in may of 2003, but succumbed to the illness the following November.

Most of the other deaths in this category are attributed to stress/exertion but have not been confirmed to be the result of a heart attack or other illness. These fire fighters' activities at the time they died included hiking, directing traffic and exercising.

The oldest fire fighter to die on duty in 2003 was 81 year old Wentzell Harding, who suffered a heart attack while in route to establish a traffic control point. His private vehicle ran off the roadway and smashed into a tree.

According to the USFA, full-time career fire fighters comprised 30 deaths in 2003 (27 percent of the 110 deaths). Volunteer, seasonal and part-time fire fighters accounted for 80 deaths (73 percent of all fire fighter deaths during the year).