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%).