Fire Fighter Collapses and Dies At the Scene of Residential Fire – Florida

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 February 7, 2001, a 65-year-old male Fire Fighter responded to a fire in a double-wide mobile home. On the scene, after setting up a change area for self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), operating the pump panel, and replacing a SCBA on the apparatus, he collapsed. Despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) administered by crew members, ambulance paramedics, and personnel at the local hospital's emergency department (ED), the victim died. The death certificate, completed by the Medical Examiner's Office, listed "hypertensive and arteriosclerotic heart disease" as the immediate cause of death. Pertinent autopsy results included an enlarged heart (concentric left ventricular hypertrophy), coronary atherosclerosis, four vessel bypass, pulmonary edema, and cerebral edema. Other agencies have proposed a three-pronged strategy for reducing the risk of on-duty heart attacks and cardiac arrests among fire fighters. This strategy consists of: 1) minimizing physical stress on fire fighters
  
  2) screening to identify and subsequently rehabilitate high risk individuals
  
  and 3) encouraging increased individual physical capacity. Issues relevant to this Fire Department include: 1) Provide mandatory preplacement 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 mandatory 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
  
  3) Incorporate exercise stress tests into the Fire Department's medical evaluation program for ALL fire fighters
  
  4) Provide automated external defibrillators (AEDs) as part of the basic life support equipment for fire apparatus
  
  5) Phase in a mandatory wellness/fitness program for fire fighters to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity
  
  6) Perform an annual physical performance (physical ability) evaluation.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Firefighters Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Medical-examinations Medical-monitoring Medical-screening OSHA Region 4 Physical-capacity Physical-examination Physical-exercise Physical-fitness Physical-reactions

  More +
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Cardiovascular: Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction, Coronary Artery Disease and Coronary Vascular Disease) ; Cardiovascular: Arrhythmia ; Cardiovascular: Congestive Heart Failure
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200311
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; 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:
  1-12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024078
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2004-102397
• 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 F2003-11, 2003 Aug ; :1-12
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2001/02/07
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:61e9538dc8eb11d1703d09d2ca791480feaa8d1e4f7bc243e5725925a51ced7d13b5d0ebc96a4009d4afde9b81d0646883b1b50b8c8281641a48b62d581b886e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163793/cdc_163793_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 420.03 KB ]