Fire Fighter Dies as a Result of a Cardiac Arrest While Responding to the Scene of a Reported Structure Fire – West Virginia

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hodous, Thomas K. ; 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 June 13, 1999, a 52-year-old male volunteer Fire Fighter responded in a Fire Department Engine to the scene of a reported structure fire with heavy smoke. On the way to the fire, the Fire Fighter (victim) collapsed in the cab of the Engine. Despite Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) measures administered on site, during the ambulance ride to the hospital, and in the hospital's emergency room, the victim died. The death certificate listed acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) due to coronary artery disease as the cause of death. No autopsy was performed. 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
  
  Reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity by offering a wellness/fitness program for fire fighters
  
  and, Perform an autopsy on all on-duty fire fighters whose death may be cardiovascular-related.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergency Responders Firefighters Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-disease Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Heart Medical-screening Myocardial-disorders OSHA Region 3 Physical-fitness
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Cardiovascular: Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction, Coronary Artery Disease and Coronary Vascular Disease) ; 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/NIOSHFFFACE99F24
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research ; DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20000420
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2000-107342
• 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 99-F24, 2000 Jan ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1999/06/13
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f16a7f71359b4f46ff94027b2c969e95d953f589d7419caff2178d81ed4ca9c2834d2d726e32f11a6b003f394fac77baaba6f2121f23e62056c109d91f77876d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163939/cdc_163939_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 293.03 KB ]