Fire Fighter/Emergency Medical Technician Dies During the Night at Fire Station – Arizona

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baldwin, Tommy N. ; Butasek, Meghan
• 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 June 23, 2005, a 33-year-old career female Fire Fighter/Emergency Medical Technician (FF/EMT) reported to her duty station. During the daylight portion of her shift, she responded to two calls: a lightning strike on a house and a fire apparatus breakdown. After dinner, she retired to her bunkroom. Early the next morning, at 0205 hours, her crew (Rescue 121) and Brush 121 were dispatched to a medical call, but she did not respond. A crew member checked on her and found her unresponsive. After calling the brush crew back to the station, the crew member assessed her and radioed Dispatch, who dispatched a neighboring fire department (FD). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) treatment were performed by crew members until paramedics from the neighboring FD arrived. From the FF/ EMT's clinical condition it was obvious she had expired much earlier in the night. The attending emergency department (ED) physician from the local hospital gave permission for the paramedic to pronounce the FF/EMT dead. The death certificate, completed by the Medical Examiner, and the autopsy, completed by the Forensic Pathologist, listed "oxycodone intoxication" as the cause of death with "mild thickening of the mitral valve" and "mild diffuse nephrosclerosis" as other conditions. NIOSH investigators offer the following recommendations to address general safety and health issues although they probably would not have prevented this death: 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. Ensure fire fighters are cleared for duty by a physician knowledgeable about the physical demands of fire fighting.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergency Responders Firefighters Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Safety Substance-Related Disorders Women
• Keywords:
  Cardiac-function Cardiovascular-disease Cardiovascular-function Cardiovascular-system Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Drug-abuse Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Medical-examinations Medical-monitoring Medical-screening OSHA Region 9 Physical-fitness Physical-stress Substance-abuse

  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/NIOSHFFFACEF200520
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Arizona ; OSHA Region 9
• 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:20029430
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2006-105525
• 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 F2005-20, 2005 Dec ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/06/23
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6adcc49aa6cad193aa5766bbb3c23cea3fc12faaec91ecbedbc35bb964d9f02f60bd5da439b99f0f60a8be19d6a7733f2868af63d1cc965575f932b991a1ebd1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163698/cdc_163698_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 235.32 KB ]