Junior Volunteer Fire Fighter Dies and Three Volunteer Fire Fighters Are Injured in a Tanker Crash – Alabama

Details

• Personal Author:
  Berardinelli, Stephen P. Jr.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Description:
  Death in the Line of Duty…a Summary of a NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation
  
  On July 26, 2006, a 17-year-old female volunteer junior fire fighter (the victim) died after the tanker truck she was riding in went off a narrow one-lane bridge. The tanker was enroute to a structure fire and failed to negotiate a sharp curve at the approach to the bridge. The tanker crashed through the bridge's guardrail and landed upside down below the bridge. The driver and two other fire fighters riding in the tanker were injured in the incident. The victim was extricated by emergency personnel and pronounced dead at the scene. NIOSH investigators concluded that, in order to minimize the risk of similar occurrences, fire departments should: 1. ensure that fire fighters are always seated in an approved riding position any time the fire apparatus is in motion
  
  2. ensure that all fire apparatus are equipped with seat belts and that fire fighters always wear seatbelts
  
  3. ensure that tankers are operated at a safe and reasonable speed
  
  4. provide initial and refresher training (at least twice annually) to driver/operators as often as necessary for the safe operation of fire tankers
  
  5. develop and enforce written policies, procedures, and/or guidelines that identify the permissible and non-permissible tasks and activities of junior fire fighters
  
  6. establish an effective preventive maintenance program for all fire apparatus
  
  7. establish and develop written standard operating procedures for all fire fighting operations
  
  and, 8. avoid using former fuel trucks as water tankers, if at all possible. Additionally States should: 1. consider developing a State-endorsed junior fire fighter program that addresses the tasks that minors are permitted to perform in the fire service
  
  and, 2. consider requiring vehicle safety inspections for fire apparatus.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Age Factors Automobiles Emergency Responders Firefighters Fires Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Age-factors Children Drivers Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Fire-fighting-equipment Injury-prevention Motor-vehicles OSHA Region 4 Safety-practices Surveillance Traumatic-injuries Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Trauma ; Motor Vehicle: Emergency Vehicle
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200625
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; OSHA Region 4
• 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:
  1-15
• Contributor:
  Troup, Bill ; Wilbur, Mike
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20031858
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-108700
• 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 F2006-25, 2007 Apr ; :1-15
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2006/07/26
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:72db939c637271878a96693ae3c21fcfd6f5592d95db459c76c634a7117be98d645014e4f269997958686244b1c54ba20ec98cb1e91f6ce9de4789679ec5b619
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163662/cdc_163662_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 313.25 KB ]