Fire Characteristics Associated with Firefighter Injury on Large Federal Wildland Fires

Details

• Personal Author:
  Britton C ; Lynch CF ; Peek-Asa, Corinne ; Torner J
• Description:
  Purpose: Wildland fires present many injury hazards to firefighters. We estimate injury rates and identify fire-related factors associated with injury. Methods: Data from the National Interagency Fire Center from 2003 to 2007 provided the number of injuries in which the firefighter could not return to his or her job assignment, person-days worked, and fire characteristics (year, region, season, cause, fuel type, resistance to control, and structures destroyed). We assessed fire-level risk factors of having at least one reported injury using logistic regression. Negative binomial regression was used to examine incidence rate ratios associated with fire-level risk factors. Results: Of 867 fires, 9.5% required the most complex management and 24.7% required the next-highest level of management. Fires most often occurred in the western United States (82.8%), during the summer (69.6%), caused by lightening (54.9%). Timber was the most frequent fuel source (40.2%). Peak incident management level, person-days of exposure, and the fire's resistance to control were significantly related to the odds of a fire having at least one reported injury. However, the most complex fires had a lower injury incidence rate than less complex fires. Conclusions: Although fire complexity and the number of firefighters were associated with the risk for at least one reported injury, the more experienced and specialized firefighting teams had lower injury incidence. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Epidemiology Firefighters Fires Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Wildfires
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Occupational Safety Data Processing Ecological Systems Ecologic Study Fire Fighters Fire Fighting Fire Hazards First Responders Injuries Lost Work Days Occupational Hazards Occupational Safety Regression Analysis Risk Analysis Risk Factors Risk Management Surveillance Work Experience Work Operations

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• ISSN:
  1047-2797
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  37-42
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062171
• Citation:
  Ann Epidemiol 2013 Feb; 23(2):37-42
• Contact Point Address:
  Corinne Peek-Asa PhD, Injury Prevention Research Center, College of Public Health, 105 River St., S143 CPHB, Iowa City, IA 52242
• Email:
  corinne-peek-asa@uiowa.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:06adce76a8e4a5f45be2143fcfd750c3fdec0f33fe3eed3582e90da461effb1bfa55f8676f13f1d9387a1603772d5781857b51976e6ee56143f3523f55c38135
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225471/cdc_225471_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 177.17 KB ]