Fire Chief Suffers Sudden Death During Training – Alabama

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baldwin, Tommy N.
• 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 May 13, 2004, a 28-year-old male volunteer Fire Chief was attending an emergency medical services (EMS) conference in another state. The first night after arriving at the training city, the Chief and his wife went to bed at 2230 hours. The next morning, at 0900 hours, the Chief's spouse awoke and found the Chief deceased. She called 911 and an ambulance responded. From the Chief's clinical condition, it was obvious he had expired some time earlier. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) treatment were not performed, and he was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner. The death certificate and the autopsy, completed by the Chief Medical Examiner, listed "accidental multiple drug intoxication" as the cause of death. The NIOSH investigator's review supports this conclusion. NIOSH investigators offer the following recommendations to address general safety and health issues: 1. Provide pre-placement and annual medical evaluations to ALL fire fighters to determine their medical ability to perform duties without presenting a significant risk to the safety and health of themselves or others. 2. Provide fire fighters with medical clearance to wear self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). 3. Phase in a MANDATORY wellness/fitness program for fire fighters to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity. 4. Perform an annual physical performance (physical ability) evaluation to ensure fire fighters are physically capable of performing the essential job tasks of structural firefighting. 5. Ensure that fire fighters are cleared for duty by a physician knowledgeable about the physical demands of firefighting, the personal protective equipment used by fire fighters, and the various components of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1582, Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Program for Fire Departments (FDs).
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergency Responders Firefighters Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-disease Cardiovascular-system Cardiovascular-system-disease Drug-interaction Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Medical-examinations Medical-monitoring Medical-screening OSHA Region 4 Physical-fitness

  More +
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Non-Cardiac: Drug Overdose
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200601
• 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:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030875
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2006-115456
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: 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 F2006-01, 2006 Jul ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2004/05/13
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6991b3792354efb01aa8735a9f5e55d321e738952e4d499df7c0dbe6ee1efdb08afc41808380233d42e2c7196f75b59c481e51289125d25b9228a5bd0e5f7589
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163680/cdc_163680_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 206.61 KB ]