Restaurant/Tavern Fire Results in the Death of One Fire Fighter and Serious Injuries to Three Other Fire Fighters – Indiana

Details

• Personal Author:
  Braddee, Richard W. ; Pettit, Theodore A. ; Hodous, Thomas K.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Description:
  On August 19, 1997, three male fire fighters (the victim and two injured fire fighters), ages 21-, 27- and 35-years-old, entered a restaurant/tavern structure that had smoke and flames emitting through the roof above the kitchen area. The fire fighters entered the structure by crouching/crawling through the front door and advancing about 15 feet into the interior of the structure. About 10 minutes later, intense heat filled the area. The heat apparently startled or panicked the victim, who tried to run for the doorway entrance. The victim subsequently died from asphyxiation, while the other two fire fighters received serious burns. Also, a fourth fire fighter, age 48 years, received serious burns during a rescue attempt. NIOSH investigators concluded that, to prevent similar incidents, employers should: ensure that defensive (exterior operation) fire fighting tactics are suspended prior to switching the strategic mode of operation to an offensive strategy (interior fire attack with hand lines), and notify all affected personnel of the change in strategic modes
  
  ensure that fire fighters who enter hazardous areas, e.g., burning or suspected unsafe structures, be equipped with two-way communications with incident command
  
  establish and implement an incident-management system with written standard operating procedures for all fire fighters.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Burns Emergencies Firefighters Food-Processing Industry Hazardous Substances Mortality Occupational Health Safety Smoke
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Communications-equipment Cooking-equipment Emergency-response Fire-fighting Food-processing-equipment Food-processing-industry Hazard-communication Injuries OSHA Region 5 Restaurants Safety-practices Smoke-inhalation Traumatic-injuries Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Trauma ; Non-Structure Fire: Residential
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACE9709
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:20000274
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB99-157034
• 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 97-09, 1997 Sep ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1997/08/19
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c95668a502ab3ccd9a0d4bc64585fb68493f19ad2b39934c043b97dfba911c4ed736ff0bc620430acc7b4a1ea1740daf83ef8e8afe55019bbe6c18343bdb01b9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164000/cdc_164000_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 77.99 KB ]