Fire fighter dies of heat stroke while making a fire line during a wildland fire in California

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Health Services. Occupational Health Branch
• Description:
  A 21-year-old fire fighter (decedent) died, another fire fighter was overcome by heat stroke and two others by heat exhaustion during the construction of a fire line during a small, wildland fire which occurred in an area of steep slopes. The group to which these fire fighters belonged underwent 1 to 1-1/2 hours of physical training on the morning of the fire. Thereafter, they practiced cutting a fire line for 1 hour just prior to being called to the fire scene. Fire fighters were wearing standard gear including work pants under Nomex pants and a Nomex shirt with no lining worn over a white T-shirt. Of the crew interviewed by the employer, 80% had symptoms of heat illness. The decedent had been ill the day prior to the incident. The ambient temperature at the time of the incident was 98 degrees F and the relative humidity was approximately 30%. The CA/FACE investigator concluded, that in order to prevent future occurrences, fire agencies should: 1. Require supervisors to regularly monitor firefighters, using generally accepted methods, during periods of high heat stress. 2. Assure firefighters workloads are appropriate for their level of acclimatization. 3. Assure firefighters workloads are appropriate for ambient weather conditions and clothing.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Emergency Responders Firefighters Fires Heat Stress Disorders Hot Temperature Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Fire-hazards Fire-protection Fire-safety Heat-exhaustion Heat-exposure Heat-stress Heat-stroke Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 9 Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Heat-related
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE97CA010
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  9 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027180
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-112050
• 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 97CA010, 1997 Oct ; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1998
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:83bf32ae35392c4fba073915f1922578fd85f5deb711e6f9975e4dd3bde7afb14af00ffdbcc58fd09ab6e9a166cefdb3662712f633fb9a68c93a72c3457e88d9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/168988/cdc_168988_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 24.83 KB ]