Career Firefighter Dies from Injuries Received During a Chimney and Structural Collapse after a House Fire – Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Tarley, Jay L. ; Guglielmo, Carolyn ; 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 January 20, 2003, a 22-year old male career fire fighter (the victim) was fatally injured after being trapped during a structural collapse following a house fire. The victim was performing overhaul on the first floor when a chimney fell causing a structural collapse. The victim and two other fire fighters became trapped under the debris of the chimney and second floor. The victim was removed from the collapse within 10 minutes. He was transported via helicopter to a regional hospital where he was pronounced dead. NIOSH investigators concluded that, to minimize the risk of similar occurrences, fire departments should: 1. ensure that an assessment of the stability and safety of the structure (e.g., roofs, ceilings, partitions, load-bearing walls, floors, and chimneys) is conducted before entering fire and water-damaged structures for overhaul operations
  
  2. establish and monitor a collapse zone to ensure that no activities take place within this area as part of overhaul operations
  
  3. ensure that an Incident Safety Officer, independent from the Incident Commander, is appointed and on scene early in the fire operation
  
  4. ensure consistent use of personal alert safety system (PASS) devices even during overhaul operations
  
  and, 5. ensure that fire fighters who enter hazardous areas, e.g., suspected unsafe structures during overhaul, be equipped with two-way communications with Incident Command.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Firefighters Fires Occupational Health Safety Safety Management
• Keywords:
  Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Fire-safety OSHA Region 3 Safety-measures Safety-practices Work-practices
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Trauma ; Structure Fire: Residential ; Structure Fire: Collapse
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200304
• 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:
  1-10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20025087
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2004-106176
• 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 F2003-04, 2004 Jun ; :1-10
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2003/01/20
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b2822ef9125fcbde75a8a88fcb14420fcded99deabf3a3273255ccb1f64b7c9e187fb6adb35ab78879423f1b118acf98a8d1732196f5a1521cec58ad737a5803
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163770/cdc_163770_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 935.67 KB ]