Firefighter Dies from Head Injury During Tire Inflation – Louisiana

Details

• Personal Author:
  Attwood WR ; Funke, Jeff
• Description:
  On December 18, 2021, a 28-year-old career firefighter died from head injuries incurred when a tire bead came off the wheel rim with great force during vehicle maintenance operations. Firefighter 4 (deceased firefighter) was assigned to Station 4. He began his shift by performing apparatus checks. During a check of Engine 4, he checked and inflated the tires to ensure they were all above 95 psi. At 08:30 hours, firefighter 4 called the shift captain to notify him that he was bringing Engine 4 to Station 1 to check and inflate the tires. Upon arriving, he parked Engine 4 in front of bay 1. Firefighter 4 connected a pre-connected 100 ft air line from the external fill port of the station's cascade system to the tires. The regulator for the cascade was set to around 100 psi. Firefighter 4 also secured a manual tire gauge and an air chuck. The air chuck was connected to the airline. The shift captain arrived to assist in checking and inflating the tires. The captain started inflating the front passenger side tire. Firefighter 4 then took over inflating the passenger side rear tires. During inflation, each tire was checked with the manual tire gauge to ensure each was above 95 psi. Both firefighters moved to the driver's side tires after completing the passenger side tires. Upon checking the outer dual configuration tire on the driver's side rear, firefighter 4 noted that the pressure was only 50 psi. He began to inflate the tire by sitting on the ground directly in front of it and holding the air chuck onto the tire valve stem. After a short amount of time inflating, the tire bead came off the wheel rim with great force which launched the simulator/hubcap as a projectile hitting firefighter 4 in the forehead. Firefighter 4 was thrown back about 30 ft from Engine 4. Upon witnessing the incident, the shift captain promptly contacted the parish public safety answering point and requested a medic unit and a medical helicopter be dispatched to their location. The captain and another firefighter rendered medical aid to firefighter 4 who was unconscious and bleeding from the head. Firefighter 4 was transported to a local hospital and pronounced deceased. Contributing Factors - Procedure and equipment for inspecting and inflating apparatus tires; Training on daily/weekly visual and operational checks of apparatus. Key Recommendations - For fire departments: 1) Ensure that firefighters have access to and use appropriate equipment and safe operating procedures to inspect and inflate apparatus tires. 2) Ensure firefighters are trained on how to conduct daily/weekly visual and operational checks of apparatus. For fire service training organizations and fire academies (federal, state, regional/county, and local): 1) Add information about tire explosion hazards and provide hands-on training for safe inspection and inflation of apparatus tires in driver/operator and maintenance training programs and publications. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Automobiles Emergency Responders Firefighters Fires Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident Analysis Emergency Responders Fatalities Fire Fighters Fire Fighting Head Injuries Motor Vehicles Region 6 Vehicle Safety
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Trauma ; Motor Vehicle ; Motor Vehicle: Emergency Vehicle ; Traumatic Cause: Miscellaneous
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF202121
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Case Report
• Place as Subject:
  Birmingham Region [OSHA] ; Louisiana ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA] ; 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:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070765
• 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 F2021-21, 2025 Mar; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  20211218
• 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:f12f6e1a79e93e1c7238a6cb42519ab06a2e30c3114a3ae40aff504a299ae6f42eb918382c6722f2bfd43988c252b256ac9fb40a6882f6da9d1b569d193878a7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228523/cdc_228523_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 616.46 KB ]