Career Firefighter Dies and Three Others Injured in a Struck-By Incident While On-Scene at a Roadway Crash – Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Schaeffer, Tammy ; Loflin, Murrey E. ; Richardson, Michael
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Description:
  Line of Duty Death Report
  
  On July 24, 2021, a career firefighter died in a vehicular struck by crash while preparing to leave the scene of an earlier two vehicle crash on a four-lane limited-access state roadway. In addition, two volunteer firefighters and a state police trooper were also struck and injured. The volunteer firefighters sustained critical injuries necessitating air medevac from the scene. The state police trooper sustained moderate injuries and was transported by ground ambulance. At 03:04, two fire companies (FC1 and FC2), emergency medical services (EMS), and state police were dispatched to the westbound lanes of a state roadway for a vehicle crash with injuries. The roadway consists of two lanes for each direction divided by a barrier wall, and each direction is bordered by a 12-foot shoulder. Dispatch reported that the crash involved two passenger vehicles (VEH-1 and VEH-2). At 03:07, FC1 responded with a heavy rescue (rescue, R) with six crew members, which consisted of a volunteer captain (R-CPT), a volunteer lieutenant (R-LT), a career firefighter driver/operator (R-CFF), a volunteer firefighter (R-FF1), and two junior volunteer firefighters (R-FF2 and R-FF3). Upon arrival at approximately 03:12, members of FC1 observed VEH-1 and VEH-2 on the roadway shoulder separated by approximately 100-feet. R-CFF positioned the rescue in the right travel lane with its front bumper beside the rear bumper of VEH-1. The R-CPT advised the county dispatch center of two vehicles on the right shoulder of the roadway separated by approximately 100-feet, with occupants outside of the vehicles. The rescue crew deployed five traffic cones. The cones were placed from the driver's side rear of the rescue to the white line along the roadway shoulder (fog line), 10- to 15-feet behind the rescue. Crew members then went to assess the occupants for injuries. FC2 responded with a rescue engine (engine, E), also at 03:07, and arrived on-scene at approximately 03:16. The engine positioned as a blocking vehicle immediately behind the deployed traffic cones, diagonally blocking the right travel lane and the shoulder of the roadway. This positioning of the vehicle allowed oncoming traffic to pass the initial crash scene using the left travel lane. Contributing Factors - Ineffective temporary traffic control in the following Temporary Traffic Control (TTC) zones: 1) Advance Warning Area 2) Transition Area 3) Activity Area 4) Termination Area
  
  Inadequate termination of a Traffic Incident Management Area (TIMA)
  
  Lack of continuous risk assessment
  
  Ineffective situational awareness
  
  Failure to require and provide traffic incident management training and ensure competencies
  
  Inadequate and ineffective department and company traffic incident management policy and company traffic incident management standard operating procedure (SOP) for response to roadway incidents. Key Recommendations - Recommendation #1: All emergency responders involved with incident command operations should ensure an appropriate TIMA is identified and effective TTC zones are implemented for traffic incidents. Recommendation #2: All emergency responders involved with incident command operations should ensure a proper and effective termination of a TIMA to maintain the safety of all responders through their departure from the scene. Recommendation #3: All emergency responders involved with incident command and fire officers should ensure ongoing risk assessments through the duration of the incident until all responders have departed the scene. Recommendation #4: All responders should develop comprehensive situational awareness through education, practice, and experience. Recommendation #5: A multidisciplinary approach for traffic incident management training should be required and provided to all potential responders for roadway incidents. Recommendation #6: Develop fire department-wide TIM policies, trainings, and SOPs that are further expanded by each fire company based on specific community needs.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Automobiles Emergency Responders Firefighters Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident Analysis Accidents Emergency Responders Fire Fighters Injury Prevention Motor Vehicles OSHA Region 3 Traumatic Injuries
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Trauma ; Motor Vehicle: Struck-by
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Line of Duty Death Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF202113
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-26
• Contributor:
  Sullivan, Jack
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069813
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE F2021-13, 2024 Jun ; :1-26
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2021/07/24
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7f7963f746df3ca21821bfeba0468f4c7fd3d5f55e8a7d07736cd12085f3a2a441f2e8f1d86a47f1060b06b570ec8b77d92925d045728d7caa20a23ea6fe7c2c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163300/cdc_163300_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 741.88 KB ]