A significant year in firefighter fatality data   A total of six firefighters died while directly engaged in structure fire attack in 2020. (author photo)     2020 ended with a total of 96 on-duty deaths per the United States Fire Administration.  Details regarding the definitions and criteria used to determine and list our on-duty deaths are covered in an earlier article[1].  This number should increase slightly based on news of firefighter deaths contributed to COVID-19 and the death of a West Virginia Air National Guard firefighter[2] before the year ended ..read more

  A unique poll by the Los Angeles Fire Department       (LAFD Talk, Twitter @LAFDtalk)             Yesterday on Twitter the Los Angeles Fire Department asked followers which helmet should they purchase. The options were the current ‘contemporary’ helmet or the ‘traditional’ helmet and if they should be either yellow or black. The reason for the poll was that the department was looking to make a future purchase.  The poll did not offer costs, specifics, and choices of manufacturers.     #LAFDPoll: Your @LAFD is about to decid ..read more

    Two saved in abandoned bar fire   (KENS 5, YouTube)       SAN ANTONIO (Houston Chronicle) – San Antonio firefighters pulled two people from a burning building on the North Side Tuesday morning. The fire started around 1:30 a.m., in an abandoned building near the 800 block of San Pedro. Officials said a faulty AC window unit was likely to blame for the blaze. When crews arrived, they found flames coming from a rear window in the two-story building, SAFD said.   FirefighterNation: San Antonio Firefighters Rescue Two in Abandoned Bar Fire     ..read more

    A little more than a small outside fire   (San Francisco Firefighters Local 798, Twitter @SFFFLocal798)     Tuesday’s five-alarm fire in San Francisco was impressive at first reporting and more so when we learned that the initial dispatch was one engine, one truck, and one chief for a “small outside fire.” According to San Francisco Local 798 the first chief pulled a full box and the assignments grew from there. Master stream set up. #5thalarm this morning. Original dispatch came in as a “small outside fire” with 1 engine, 1 truck and a Chief. As crews got on s ..read more

    On this day a response to an AFA turned deadly   Area of origin, the A B corner.(NIOSH/fire department photo)     On July 28, 2011, a 37-year-old career captain died and 9 fire fighters were injured in a 6-story medical building fire while searching for the seat of the fire. At 1228 hours, dispatch sent four companies (2 engines, 1 truck, and a squad company) to an automatic fire alarm (bold mine) at a multistory medical building. Read the Report: A Career Captain Dies and 9 Fire Fighters injured in a Multistory Medical Building Fire Revised on September 27, 20 ..read more

  Presumption bill moves to the President   (Wikipedia)       WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation on Monday sponsored by Rep. Dave Joyce to ensure that families of firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians who die from or are disabled by the coronavirus get Public Safety Officers Benefit program payments. Cleveland.com said the bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Anthony Gonzalez and Rep. Marcia Fudge, passed in a non-controversial voice vote. It passed the U.S. Senate on May 14 and will become law after being signed by th ..read more

  An increase compared to past Januarys (Bill Carey photo)   The first month of 2020 ended with nine on-duty deaths as defined by the United States Fire Administration.      This is the highest January total in six years, but only one of the fatalities involves a victim killed inside a burning structure.  Fatalities related to vehicles accounted for almost half (44%) of the total number even considering two fatalities with imprecise data reporting. Conflict in the presented data also appears in the category of activity types, specifically in Incident Command and Search. Two volunteer firefi ..read more

    Atlanta’s story isn’t about duty   (pixabay)   It was asked that this comment on Facebook be shared.   I had shared the latest from work on the Atlanta fire rescue suspension story and was asked what my thoughts are on the subject.  While it really doesn’t matter what I think, or anyone else outside of Atlanta, I do think that some of people are getting riled up over what they perceive to be a threat to their duty, and in turn their identity, as a firefighter.  That’s very different from supporting Captain Dwyer.   If the captain was injured or killed, it would be a different story. If ..read more

  “To thine own self be true.” was a quote in FDNY Ladder Company 3 Captain Patrick “Paddy” Brown’s apartment. (pixabay) Most people don’t wake up and decide they want to suck.   The Fire Service is a unique profession, or trade.  There are standards that we are supposed to meet to become a firefighter.  In addition, there are thousands of hours of training throughout the course of a career that are attended.  Yet despite all this training, and these standards, what is the true measure of our success on the fireground?  And who is doing the measuring? When the standard is “the fire went ..read more

  How many died inside?   “Do you know the line of duty death total for 2018 and how many were involved on the interior?”     A total of 84 firefighters are listed as the 2018 on-duty deaths as defined and reported by the United States Fire Administration (USFA)[1].  There is a conflict with this as the USFA report for 2018 lists 82 fatalities[2].  The number of fatalities defined by the Hometown Heroes Act stands at 14 in the database and the report.    The two missing fatalities from the report are not noted anywhere.   Looking at ‘interior’ fatalities we look at three activity types i ..read more