A Story of Impact: Popular Firefighting News Forum Develops Training Poster Based on NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation Report

Details

• Personal Author:
  Miles, Stephen T. ; Webb, Sydney ; Wilson KJ
• Description:
  Hidden spaces that support the spread of fire can have devastating effects for fire fighters who enter burning structures. In August 2014, one firefighter was killed and another was injured after a roof collapse that was likely due, in part, to a fire that was hidden by a pan ceiling. A pan ceiling is a metal ceiling that, in this case, covered wooden truss supports of a commercial storage unit. The space between the pan ceiling and roof created a room similar to an attic that supported the spread of the fire and burned the trusses, which ultimately caused the roof collapse. To better understand this fire event, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) conducted an investigation of the assistant fire chief's line-of-duty death. Rapid fire spread that was hidden by a pan ceiling was identified as a contributing factor in the collapse that killed the assistant chief. In addition to the pan ceiling in this incident hiding the fire, FFFIPP investigators identified other factors that contributed to the death of the assistant fire chief. These were the lack of an established incident command, break-down in communication, poor situational awareness, and no safety officer on scene. As a result, NIOSH recommended that fire departments take the following steps to prevent similar deaths: identify a single incident commander, conduct a risk assessment, collaborate with neighboring fire departments to develop standard operating procedures, establish collapse zones, and designate a safety officer for structure fires. The NIOSH FFFIPP published a report detailing this fire event. The report includes contributing factors as well as recommendations to prevent similar deaths from occurring. To ensure that the information in the report got to the broader fire service community, key information from the report was featured on a training poster prepared by Firefighter Close Calls, a popular online firefighting news and update forum. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Emergency Responders Environmental Exposure Firefighters Fires Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Collapse Zones Emergency-responders Exposure Levels Fire-fighters Fire Hazards Injuries Injury Prevention Risk Factors Safety Personnel Surveillance Traumatic Injuries

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• Series:
  NIOSH Numbered Publications
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHPUB2019167
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Handout/Flyer
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• 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:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057113
• 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, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2019-167, 2019 Sep; :1-2
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bf9db49d0b91805b058d04195f1f3845e1e0174592410cf3f9d19d3364a1107b86537e1f7658a1db4701bb941aaa416135957269c9efa30f94bc864dc337336e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/210133/cdc_210133_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 327.28 KB ]