This study of firefighter fatalities would not have been possible without the cooperation and assistance of many members of the fire service across the United States. Members of individual fire departments, chief fire officers, wildland fire service organizations such as the United States Forest Service (USFS), the National Park Service (NPS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), as well as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and many others contributed important information for this report.
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) was responsible for compilation of a large portion of the data used in this report and the incident narrative summaries found in Appendix A.
The ultimate objective of this effort is to reduce the number of firefighter deaths through an increased awareness and understanding of their causes and how they can be prevented. Firefighting, rescue, and other types of emergency operations are essential activities in an inherently dangerous profession, and unfortunate tragedies do occur. This is the risk all firefighters accept every time they respond to an emergency incident. However, the risk can be greatly reduced through efforts to improve training, emergency scene operations, and firefighter health and safety initiatives.
Download: U.S. Fire Administration Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2008
