Wildland Firefighter Fatalities in the United States: 1990–2006

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 17 Total Deaths During Wildland Firefighting Operations (All Causes) From 1990 to 2006 12 11 8 34 15 12 Figure 2—The annual death toll for persons who died during wildland fire operations from 1990 to 2006 (310 total deaths). 10 18 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Initial Period Most Recent Period 26 20 18 23 30 20 12 24
Other Wildland Firefi ghter Fatality Reports sioned a task force that prepared a “Report of Task Force to Although wildland fires have burned the American landscape since long before the arrival of Europeans, they received little national attention Recommend Action to Reduce the Chances of Firefighters Being Killed by Burning While Fighting Fire” (1957). That study resulted in development of the “10 Standard Fire before the 20th century. Even the Peshtigo Fire that burned Orders” and the “13 Situations That Shout Watch Out” (now more than 1.5 million acres in Wisconsin, killing more than “18 Situations That Shout Watch Out”). 1,200 people, was overshadowed by the Great Chicago Fire A Forest Service fire safety review team issued a 1967 that began the same day in 1871. report: “A Plan to Further Reduce the Chances of Men Being When the Big Burn of 1910 killed at least 78 firefighters Burned While Fighting Fires.” After more fire fatalities in and burned millions of acres in northern Idaho and western the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, the Forest Service Montana, the public and politicians became aware of the issued the “Preliminary Report of Task Force on Study of tremendous loss of life and property associated with wildland Fatal/Near-Fatal Wildland Fire Accidents” (1980). The report fires. documented Forest Service firefighter fatalities from 1926 The NWCG report “Historical Wildland Firefighter to 1979, firefighter fatalities for other agencies from 1933 Fatalities 1910–1996” (1997) records numerous wildland to 1979 (including firefighter fatalities in Canada), and near firefighter fatalities from 1910 to 1948. On August 6, misses for all agencies from 1949 to 1979. 1949, 13 firefighters died in a sudden blowup in Montana’s The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has Mann Gulch. A thorough investigation was conducted. The also looked at wildland firefighter fatalities, sometimes at the events were popularized in the 1952 movie, “Red Skies of request of Federal agencies. An NFPA report in August 1988 Montana,” and documented in Norman Maclean’s best- summarized all firefighter fatalities in the United States, selling book, “Young Men and Fire.” including those involving wildland firefighters. Two NFPA In the 1950s, 15 firefighters were killed at the studies looked specifically at wildland firefighter fatalities: Rattlesnake Fire in northern California (1953) and another an August 1991 report covered fatalities from 1981 to 1990 11 died at the Inaja Fire in southern California (1956). and a special analysis in 1997 covered wildland firefighter After those fires, the Chief of the Forest Service commis- fatalities from 1987 to 1996. None of these studies relied solely on the annual “Safety Gram.” 3
Page 1 and 2: A Publication of the National Wildf
Page 3 and 4: A publication of the NWCG Safety an
Page 5: I Wildland firefighting is a high-r
Page 9 and 10: Causes of Death From 1990 to 2006,
Page 11 and 12: Vehicle Accidents Vehicle accident
Page 13 and 14: Falling Trees/Snags and Rolling Roc
Page 15 and 16: O The “Safety Gram” breaks fire
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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?