Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Overview of 2013 Firefighter Injuries





 

Overview of 2013 Firefighter Injuries

                     65,880 firefighter injuries occurred in the line of duty in 2013, a decrease of 5.1%.

                     In addition to injuries, there were 7,100 exposures to infectious diseases, and 17,400 exposures to hazardous conditions.

                     29,760 or 45.2% of all firefighter injuries occurred during fireground operations.  An estimated 11,800 occurred during other on duty activities, 4,015 while responding/returning from an incident, 7,770 during training activities, and 12,535 occurred at nonfire emergency incidents.

                     The Northeast reported a higher number of fireground injuries per 100 fires than other regions of the country.

                     The major types of injuries received during fireground operations were: strain, sprain, muscular pain (55.3%); wound, cut, bleeding, bruise (13.8%); burns (5.1%) smoke or gas inhalation (5.0%).  Strains, sprains, and muscular pain accounted for 58.4% of all nonfireground injuries.

                     The leading causes of fireground injuries were overexertion, strain (26.5%) and fall, slip, jump (22.7%).