Beyond the Numbers
Wildland fire operations have been, and continue to be, a high-risk environment for those involved. One hundred years ago on the "Big Burn" wildfires in northern Idaho and western Montana, more than 80 firefighters lost their lives. Today, wildland firefighters continue to die in all aspects of fire operations.
Each year, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's Safety & Health Working Team produces an annual Safety Gram that documents wildland firefighter fatalities from all causes during the previous year. The reports for 2007-09 show that 49 firefighters died during that period.
But if we look beyond the data reported in the Safety Gram by using additional information from the U.S. Fire Administration's Annual Fire-fighter Fatalities Reports, we may be able to better identify some of the more subtle trends that may be occurring and offer ideas to mitigate the risks that are causing these fatalities.
In 2007, I wrote a Technical Report for the Safety & Health Working Team and the Missoula Technology & Development Center that reviewed all wildland firefighter deaths reported in the Safety Grams from 1990-2006. The report showed that 310 firefighters died during that period — an average of 18.2 deaths per year, ranging from a low of eight to a high of 34 in any single year.
While much of the emphasis in wildland fire safety is placed on LCES (lookouts, communications, escape routes and safety zones) and entrapment avoidance, the study showed that the leading causes of death were aviation accidents, vehicle accidents, heart attacks and other medical causes, and burnovers. In addition, volunteer firefighters were most likely to die (34.2%), followed by federal firefighters (23.5%) and aviation contractors (15.5%).
For the 2007-09 fire seasons, the 49 firefighters who died represent an annual average of 16.3, which is slightly below the earlier 17-year average of 18.2. The worst year was 2008 with 25 deaths; nine fatalities occurred in 2007, and an additional 15 died in 2009.
Aviation accidents were the leading cause with 21 deaths, or 42.9% of the total. This number was significantly affected by a single helicopter crash in northern California that killed nine personnel during the 2008 fire season. Also included in the aviation accident number is the death of a rappeller who fell from a hovering helicopter during proficiency testing.
Heart attacks and other medical-related events resulted in 10 deaths, and vehicle accidents also resulted in 10 fatalities. Only one firefighter died in a burnover event during the 2007-09 period.
Organizationally, volunteers had the most deaths (12), which can be expected given their large numbers across the United States. Aviation contractors (pilots and flight crew members) suffered 10 fatalities, a relatively high number given the small total base number of aviators. Contractors lost eight firefighters, with seven of those deaths coming in a single event when an S-61 helicopter transporting them crashed. Federal and state organizations each lost seven firefighters, and county/rural departments reported five fatalities.
While the Safety Gram does a thorough job of documenting much of the information relevant to the fatalities that occur, there may be opportunities to gather and analyze additional information from these fatal events that allows us to make meaningful changes to reduce fatalities.
Some of the information that may help our analysis includes:
- Time of day when the fatality occurred
- Age(s) of the individual(s)
- Type of vehicle involved
- Mission the aircraft was involved in
- Status of the fire relative to the fatality
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