Fire Fighter Dies as a Result of a Cardiac Arrest While Fighting a Brush/Grass Fire – Massachusetts

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hales, Thomas R. ; Baldwin, Tommy N. ; Sexson, Kristen ; Fabio, Anthony
• 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 April 11, 1998, a 49-year-old male off-duty career Fire Fighter from the neighboring Fire Department was assisting the local Fire Department that served the area where he lived to suppress a brush/grass fire near his house when he collapsed due to a cardiac arrest. Despite immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) administered by fire fighters, followed by advanced life support (ALS) administered by paramedics and emergency department personnel, the victim died. The death certificate and autopsy reported coronary artery disease as the immediate cause of death. The following recommendations address preventive measures that have been recommended by other agencies to reduce, among other things, the risk of on-duty heart attacks and cardiac arrests among fire fighters. These recommendations have not been evaluated by NIOSH but represent research presented in the literature, consensus votes of technical committees of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), or products of labor/management technical committees within the fire service. This preventive 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 (fitness). Issues relevant to this fire department include: 1. 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
  
  2. Reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity by phasing in a mandatory wellness/fitness program for fire fighters.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Emergency Responders Firefighters Fires Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accidents Emergency-responders Fatalities Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Fire-hazards Medical-screening OSHA Region 1 Physical-fitness
• 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/NIOSHFFFACE99F13
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• 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:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20000391
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2000-105724
• 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-F13, 1999 Nov ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1998/04/11
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:30d2f849e01d234d4c6f14560f230ffcb3a479be755aef12dd57885b7f8c396e7e5dc0488e1430364b5ec2ec37faff2cb9e613b4e405e6a19235e3ac1c7aee86
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163959/cdc_163959_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 243.61 KB ]