Reserve Fire Fighter Suffers Sudden Cardiac Death While Working on a Fuel Reduction Crew – 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 19, 2004, a 39-year-old male reserve (volunteer) Fire Fighter (FF) assisted in forest fuel load reduction near a residential area. After about 6 hours of carrying and feeding trees and branches into a wood chipper, the FF suddenly collapsed. Crew members notified 911, who dispatched an ambulance and the fire department (FD) to the area. Despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) on-scene, in the ambulance, and in the local hospital's emergency department (ED), the FF died. The death certificate, completed by the Medical Examiner, and the autopsy, completed by the Forensic Pathologist, listed "atherosclerotic heart disease" as the cause of death. The NIOSH investigator concluded that the FF's sudden cardiac death was due to his underlying atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) possibly triggered by the physical exertion associated with chipping the wood and carrying the tree branches. NIOSH investigators offer the following recommendations to prevent similar incidents or 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. Consider conducting exercise stress tests (EST) for male fire fighters with two or more risk factors for CAD. 3. Provide fire fighters with medical evaluations and clearance to wear self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). 4. Ensure the District contract physician reviews all return to work clearances. 5. Use a secondary (technological) test to confirm appropriate placement of the endotracheal (ET) tube during emergency intubations.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergency Responders Firefighters Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiac-function Cardiovascular-disease Cardiovascular-function Cardiovascular-system Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Medical-examinations Medical-monitoring Medical-screening OSHA Region 9 Physical-fitness Physical-stress

  More +
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Cardiovascular: Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction, Coronary Artery Disease and Coronary Vascular Disease)
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200519
• 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:
  1-8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20029341
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2006-103489
• 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 F2005-19, 2005 Dec ; :1-8
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2004/06/19
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:66e61e25644fabbc783ee29191ee31ac0d286696a6638d07e6865af672be7b8b79187a476a8b758c73178539841c3b67b75bb3b9642cc4df9ba8eeee51533c3a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163702/cdc_163702_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 307.18 KB ]