Fire Fighter Dies at a Barn Fire – Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Sexson, Kristen
• 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 December 13, 1999, a 50-year-old male Fire Fighter responded to a barn fire. After setting up a portable tank and unloading water into the tank, the victim proceeded to a tanker filling site, where he had a witnessed collapse. Despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) administered on the scene and at the hospital, the victim died. The death certificate, completed by the County Coroner after the autopsy was performed, listed "fatal cardiac arrhythmia" as the immediate cause of death due to "acute thrombotic occlusion of the right coronary artery" (heart attack), "80-90% narrowing of the left anterior descending coronary artery, and severe coronary atherosclerosis." Other significant conditions were listed as "hypertrophy and dilatation of the heart, acute marked congestion of the lungs, and splenomegaly." 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: fire fighters should have annual medical evaluations to determine their medical ability to perform duties without presenting a significant risk to the safety and health of themselves or others
  
  individuals with medical conditions that would present a significant risk to the safety and health of themselves or others should be precluded from fire-fighting activities
  
  phase in a mandatory wellness/fitness program for fire fighters to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity
  
  and although unrelated to this fatality and not part of the three-pronged prevention strategy, fire departments should ensure that all fire fighters have communication access at all times.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergency Responders Firefighters Fires Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Emergency-responders Fire-fighting Fire-fighting-equipment Heart Medical-screening OSHA Region 5 Physical-fitness
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Cardiovascular: Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction, Coronary Artery Disease and Coronary Vascular Disease) ; Cardiovascular: Arrhythmia
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200005
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20000951
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2003-107705
• 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 F2000-05, 2000 Dec ; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1999/12/13
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9f1744cefdc88c6673036bb7979dcee643cb09c026e3e084c5ac4e0ea6fc9a4083ed8ea5ffa17f298dc5f6aada02048466c936d33a4b26067ab7745baa112bab
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163921/cdc_163921_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 301.37 KB ]