Some 10,000 firefighters were in Washington, D.C., on National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) Memorial Weekend (October 4-6) to honor the 446 firefighters from 32 states (347 were killed at the World Trade Center on 9-11) who died in the line of duty last year. On Sunday, the firefighters marched through downtown Washington to the MCI Center, where this year’s National Memorial Service was held. They joined with the families of the fallen heroes, honor guard units, and bagpipers in the Procession of Honor, or Sea of Blue.
Featured at the service, moderated by Hal Bruno, NFFF board chairman, and Ron Siarnicki, NFFF executive director, were U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer, who led the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance, and U.S. Representative Curt Weldon, who delivered a message from President Bush. Keynote speaker Tom Ridge, director of the Office of Homeland Security, was introduced by Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Joe Allbaugh. Bill Manning, editor in chief/associate publisher of Fire Engineering, closed the program with his rendition of “Sea of Blue.”
Senators Joseph Biden Jr., Barbara Mikulski, and Paul Sarbannes and Representatives Steny Hoyer, Connie Morella, William Pascrell, Nick Smith, and Curt Weldon presented commemorative sketches of some honorees in conjunction with the reading of the names of the 446 firefighters killed in the line of duty during 2001.
At Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 12, some 55,000 firefighters from the Fire Department of New York; other U.S. localities; and countries including Canada, Japan, France, and Australia came to commemorate the first anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks and memorialize its heroes and other FDNY line-of-duty deaths since the year 2000.
Among the speakers were New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and International Association of Fire Fighters General President Harold Schaitberger.
Heart attack leading cause of death for firefighters
The United States Fire Administration’s “USFA Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study: 1990-2000” examines the causes of deaths for more than 1,000 on-duty U.S. firefighters during the last decade of the 20th century. The objective of the report is to use the information to help reduce firefighter deaths by 25 percent in five years.
Among the study’s key findings are the following:
- Heart attack (44%) is the leading cause of death among firefighters. Trauma, including internal and head injuries, is the second leading cause of death (27%). Asphyxia and burns account for 20 percent of firefighter fatalities.
- Each year in the United States, approximately 100 firefighters are killed and tens of thousands are injured while on duty. Although the number of firefighter fatalities has steadily decreased over the past 20 years, the number of firefighter fatalities per 100,000 incidents has actually risen over the past five years. (The highest rate of firefighter fatalities per 100,000 incidents since 1978 occurred in 1999.)
- Firefighters under the age of 35 are more likely to be killed by traumatic injuries than to die from medical causes (e.g., heart attack, stroke). After age 35, the proportion of deaths caused by traumatic injuries decreases, and the proportion of deaths attributed to medical causes rises steadily.
- Since 1984, motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) have accounted for between 20 and 25 percent of all firefighter fatalities annually. One quarter of the firefighters who died in MVCs were killed in private/personally owned vehicles (POVs). Following POVs, the apparatus most often involved in fatal collisions were water tankers, engines/ pumpers, and airplanes. More firefighters are killed in tanker collisions than in engine and ladder collisions combined.
About 27 percent of those killed in MVCs were ejected from the vehicle at the time of the collision. Only 21 percent of firefighters were reportedly wearing their seatbelts prior to the collision.
- Approximately 60 percent of all firefighter fatalities were over the age of 40; one-third were over the age of 50. Nationwide, firefighters over the age of 40 make up 46 percent of the fire service; those over 50 account for only 16 percent of firefighters. About 40 percent of volunteer firefighters are over the age of 50, compared with 25 percent of career firefighters.
- The majority of firefighter fatalities (57%) were members of local or municipal volunteer fire agencies (including combination departments, comprised of career and volunteer personnel). Full-time career firefighters account for 33 percent of firefighter fatalities. Numerically, more volunteer firefighters are killed than career personnel, yet career personnel lose their lives at a rate disproportionate to their representation in the fire service.
- In many fire departments, EMS calls account for between 50 and 80 percent of the emergency call volume. These EMS incidents result in only 3 percent of firefighter fatalities. Trauma (internal/head injuries) accounts for the deaths of 50 percent of firefighters involved in EMS operations at the time of their fatal injury. Another 38 percent involved in EMS operations died from a heart attack.
The USFA has been tracking firefighter line-of-duty deaths for the past 25 years. The information is used to measure the effectiveness of current programs directed toward firefighter health and safety and to devise new programs to reduce the deaths and injuries. The USFA is committed to reducing firefighter fatalities by 25 percent in five years and by 50 percent in 10 years.
The complete report may be viewed at and downloaded from the USFA Web site at http://www.usfa.fema.gov/dhtml/inside-usfa/fa-220.cfm.
$170 million in FEMA grants awarded to 2,756 fire departments
At the end of Fiscal Year 2002, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)/United States Fire Administration (USFA) had awarded more than $170 million to 2,756 fire departments throughout the United States as part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.
More than 19,500 fire departments applied for grants. In addition to the $150 million already awarded, FEMA will distribute another $210 million of grants before the end of calendar year 2002.
Some 480 proposals (totaling about $63 million) were for fire prevention and safety program grant awards. Up to $10 million has been targeted for this category of grants. Consequently, the USFA expects that it would fund at least 60 of the proposals. The most current information regarding these grants and all awards may be found at the USFA Web site at www.usfa.fema.gov/grants. Future grant recipients will be posted as awards are made.
SEI certifies SCBA respirators to new NFPA criteria
The Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) has issued the first SCBA certifications to the new criteria contained in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1981, Standard for Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus for Fire and Emergency Services, 2002 edition.
Major testing revisions in the NFPA 1981 standard, which was updated as part of the five-year revision cycle process, include the introduction of a new breathing machine for testing air flow rates and new test methods for the vibration and the communications tests.
This 2002 edition requires that the SCBA have at least one heads up display (HUD) to provide visual displays of alert signals and information and a rapid intervention crew universal air connection (RIC UAC), which will permit the replenishment of an SCBA user’s breathing air cylinder from an independent rescue breathing air supply source while the SCBA victim remains trapped or unable to be removed from the hazardous atmosphere.
The following SCBA models were issued certifications to the NFPA 1981, 2002 edition:
- SCBA only—ISI VikingT Series, Model Nos. 300011, 300012, 300013, 300014; MSA UltraliteT 4500 w/MMR Air Mask and Custom 4500 w/MMR Air Mask; Scott Health & Safety Air PakT 2.2/3.0/4.5; Survivair PantherT.
- SCBA with Integrated Non-Removable PASS—ISI VikingT Series, Model Nos. 300011, 300012, 300013, 300014 with Integrated ISI PASS; MSA UltraliteT 4500 w/MMR Air Mask w/ICM 2000 or ICM 2000+, Custom 4500 w/MMR Air Mask w/ICM 2000 or ICM 2000+; Scott Health & Safety Air PakT 2.2/3.0/4.5 with Pak Alert SE or Pak Alert 1000; Survivair PantherT w/ Compass PASS.
- SCBA with Integrated Removable PASS—ISI VikingT Series, Model Nos. 300011, 300012, 300013, 300014 with DuoPASS II or T-PASS.
Additional certifications are expected to be issued by the end of this year.
In addition to initial compliance testing of all SCBA models, manufacturers who participate in the SEI certification program must pass a rigorous quality assurance audit of their manufacturing facility and operate in accordance with ISO 9001. Also, all products carrying the SEI label are required to be recertified annually. This means that all products must be retested annually, and the manufacturing facility must continue to successfully meet all SEI quality assurance requirements during follow-up audits. Additional certifications are ex-pected to be released by the end of the year.
Information about SEI’s certification program and the most current version of the SEI Certified Product List are available on SEI’s Web site at www.SEInet.org. A copy of the list may also be obtained by writing to SEI, 1307 Dolley Madison Blvd., McLean, VA 22101; faxing (703) 442-5756; or e-mailing info@SEInet.org.
NFPA: fire deaths in homes dropped more than 9 percent in 2001
Fire deaths in U.S. homes dropped 9.1 percent last year, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). A total of 6,196 fire deaths occurred—3,110 in home fires and 3,086 elsewhere (2,451 on 9-11 at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon).
Home fires, which have declined fairly steadily since 1978, were down 48 percent from 2000. John R. Hall Jr., Ph.D., NFPA assistant vice president for fire analysis and research, attributes the decline to increasing public safety education and advances in fire safety technology.
Among other data in the report were:
- A fire department responded every 18 seconds to a fire somewhere in the United States.
- Public fire departments were called to 1,734,500 fires, a slight increase of 1.6 percent over 2000. Most of them were outside fires; there were 383,500 home fires.
The full report is at the NFPA Web site at http://www.nfpa.org.
The NFPA reported in a separate study that the highest fire death rates in 1999 were in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia. The lowest rates were in New Hampshire, Hawaii, Utah, Colorado, and California. However, all states had a lower fire death rate in 1999 than in 1980.
The differences in death rates were attributed to population characteristics such as education and economic status. The highest fire death rates were found in states where a higher proportion of adults lack a high-school education, smoke, or are poor.
“This study shows that fire deaths can be prevented. They’re not inevitable,” says Hall. He points to South Carolina as an example. This state had the nation’s highest fire death rate in 1988 and 1989, Hall explains. Then, it introduced a statewide fire safety program that emphasized installing smoke alarms and implementing fire safety education. By 1991, the state’s fire death rate dropped from number 1 to number 6. When funding for the program was cut, the state’s death rate rose again. By 1993, South Carolina had the nation’s second-highest fire death rate. The program has since been restored.
NYC police and fire officials say centralized command not necessary
Despite the problems experienced in command and communications during the 9-11 World Trade Center operations and the recommendations from the private consulting firm McKinsey & Company that there should be a unified command that encompasses all responding emergency agencies, New York City’s police and fire commissioners said at a committee hearing in October that a central command system was not needed.
According to a New York Times report, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said that “neither department was qualified to seize control of the other.” They said “top leaders from each department would cooperate, communicate and coordinate to share power and responsibility in a future disaster—and train toward that end.”
Scoppetta added that he was hoping that a new written protocol for routine emergencies, signed by Kelly and him, could be agreed on “very soon.” Some city officials said that the amount of resources and personnel needed at a catastrophe like the World Trade Center attacks makes it impossible to have a single commander.
Peter L. Gorman, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, believes the issues must be fully addressed if the city is not to be “doomed to repeat our failure of 9-11.”
The chairman of the Public Safety Committee said the officials would recommend a response system to Mayor Bloomberg in a few months.
(Source: “After 9/11, a Question of Command,” Al Baker, The New York Times, October 9, 2002)
H.R. 5334 presumption bill passes House committee
The Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act of 2002 (H.R. 5334), introduced by Congressmen Bob Etheridge (D-NC) and cosponsored by 80 representatives, would extend the Public Safety Officer Benefits (PSOB) program to include public safety employees (police, fire, and EMS) who die of heart attacks while on duty. In recent years, heart attacks have been the cause of close to half of line-of-duty deaths.
The PSOB program provides financial assistance to families of public safety officers killed in the line of duty, as well as to officers permanently disabled while on the job. The death benefit is payable to the survivors of a public safety officer who “has died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty.” In a majority of cases, deaths resulting from a heart attack are not considered as a direct result of an injury sustained in the line of duty, and the family is denied benefits.
The proposed bill would allow the families of public safety officers who have died from a heart attack or stroke while on duty to receive the public safety officer benefit, currently around $250,000, including those who die within 24 hours of “participating in a training exercise or responding to an emergency situation.” Also, it would be presumed that a public safety officer who suffers a fatal heart attack or stroke while on duty or within the 24-hour timeline died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty.
The House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed the bill, which is slated to go before the full House for consideration.
NIST/USFA offer information on basic decontamination
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) have prepared a document on basic decontamination processes for emergency responders who may have been exposed to chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear materials (CBRN) during rescue attempts associated with a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attack.
Covered in the document are scenarios of low-level exposures to CBRN agents or materials, which the agencies say would generally occur following an outdoor attack, and high-level exposures that may result from attacks inside buildings; how to recognize residues from CBRN agents and materials; basic approaches for emergency decontamination of equipment that must be available for immediate reuse; and methods for safely removing from service equipment considered to be unusable when applying available decontamination resources and when timely use of more advanced decontamination resources are not expected.
Decontamination processes for all known chemical or biological agents or radiological materials are not addressed, only the most common CBRN threats.
The USFA funded the project and provided technical assistance. The article may be downloaded from www.usfa.fema.gsssov/ dhtml/inside-usfa/nist12.cfm/.
U.S. DOT to test effectiveness of haz-mats trucks’ protection systems
A two-year test [Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)] will assess how well various technologies will protect hazardous materials transported by truck from hijacking, as well as their cost effectiveness. The project will involve 100 trucks, which will be equipped with a variety of technologies, including biometric driver verification, off-route vehicle alerts, stolen vehicle alerts, cargo tampering alerts, and remote vehicle disabling. The Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, Ohio, will conduct the tests. The Battelle team includes the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance; the American Transportation Research Institute (formerly the ATA Foundation); Qualcomm, Inc.; Total Security Systems, Inc.; and several motor carrier companies and technology component vendors.
The test is funded primarily by the U.S. DOT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (JPO), which includes technical experts from JPO, the Research and Special Programs Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the U.S. DOT Office of Intermodalism.
Line-of-Duty Deaths
September 5. Firefighter Jason Hampton, 19, of the Almaville Volunteer Fire Department, Smyrna, Tennessee, was killed while operating a tanker truck en route to a brush fire.
September 10. Assistant Chief Roger McMillin, 44, of the Martin (SD) Volunteer Fire Department, was overcome by toxic fumes while attempting to rescue a worker who had fallen into a soybean molasses vat at a feed mill.
September 14. Firefighter Michael Kruse, 53, of the Muscatine (IA) Fire Department, was killed when the roof collapsed at a structure fire.
September 23. Firefighter Cassandra Billings Powell, 32, of the McLeansville (NC) Fire Department, was killed while driving a vehicle between fire stations.
September 30. Captain Ralph Stott, 50, of the Terre Haute (IN) Fire Department, was killed in the collapse of a brick façade at a garage and auto body shop fire.
October 1. Assistant Engineer George F. Batelli, 55, of Garfield (NJ) Fire Company #1, died of an apparent heart attack while en route to a structure fire.
October 11. Captain Kenneth Wayne Taylor, 49, of the Madisonville (KY) Fire Department, died two days after suffering a heart attack while working an apartment building fire.
Source: National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Database, U.S. Fire Administration.
