Wildland Firefighter Fatalities in the United States: 1990–2006

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10 Incidents with Multiple Fatalities Seven events with 3 to 14 fatalities each occurred during the study period, contributing 45 of the 310 total fatalities. Burnover events included: • Dude Fire (1990)—6 deaths • South Canyon Fire (1994)—14 deaths • Thirtymile Fire (2001)—4 deaths • Esperanza Fire (2006)—5 deaths Vehicle accidents included: • Stanza rollover (2002)—3 deaths • Grayback Forestry rollover (2002)—5 deaths • First Strike Environmental accident (2003)—8 deaths If these events are removed because of their disproportionate impact, the causes of the remaining 265 fatalities are: aircraft accidents, 27 percent; heart attacks, 26 percent; vehicle accidents, 21 percent; burnover fatalities, 13 percent; miscellaneous causes, 5 percent: and other medical causes, 3 percent.
O The “Safety Gram” breaks firefighters into seven categories based on the fire organization (figure 9): volunteer, Federal, State, contractor, county/rural, private, and military. This report identifies contractors as aviation contractors or ground contractors. rganizations Volunteers 34.2% Fatalities by Organization From 1990 to 2006 State 13.5% Private 1.0% Military 0.3% Ground Contractors 8.4% Federal 23.5% Volunteer Firefi ghters Volunteers died more often on wildland fires than did firefighters in any of the other groups. The fatalities for volunteers increased from 42 during the initial period (4.7 fatalities per year) to 64 during the most recent period (8 fatalities per year), a 71-percent increase in the annual average. Volunteers accounted for 34 percent of all fatalities during the entire period. Fatalities by Organization From 1990 to 1998 Volunteers 30.7% State 14.6% Private 1.5% Fatalities by Organization From 1999 to 2006 Volunteers 37.0% State 12.7% Private 0.6% Aviation Contractors 15.5% County/Rural 3.5% Military 0.0% Aviation Contractors 14.5% Ground Contractors 11.0% Military 0.7% County/Rural 2.9% Federal 21.4% Ground Contractors 5.1% Aviation Contractors 16.8% Figure 9—Fatalities grouped by the organizations of persons who died during wildland fire operations from 1990 to 2006. County/Rural 4.4% Federal 26.3% 11
Page 1 and 2: A Publication of the National Wildf
Page 3 and 4: A publication of the NWCG Safety an
Page 5 and 6: I Wildland firefighting is a high-r
Page 7 and 8: Other Wildland Firefi ghter Fatalit
Page 9 and 10: Causes of Death From 1990 to 2006,
Page 11 and 12: Vehicle Accidents Vehicle accident
Page 13: Falling Trees/Snags and Rolling Roc
Page 17 and 18: Federal Firefi ghters Heart attack
Page 19 and 20: Locations of Fatalities During the
Page 21 and 22: California was the State with the l
Page 23 and 24: Heart Attacks Heart attacks continu
Page 25 and 26: Figure 18—Protecting homes in the
Page 27 and 28: Common Denominators for Wildland Fi
Page 29 and 30: About the Author Dick Mangan founde

Wildland Firefighter Fatalities in the United States: 1990–2006

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