Line of Duty Death Report 2025-02: One Firefighter Dies During Unprotected Search in Nine-Apartment Building that was Originally Constructed to Be a Single-Family House - Hawaii

Details

• Personal Author:
  Attwood, Wesley R. ; Johnson, James S.
• Description:
  On January 6, 2025, 25-year-old firefighter died after becoming disoriented and trapped while conducting an unprotected search in a nine-apartment residential building fire. At 19:44 hours, the Fire Communications Center (FCC) dispatched Engine 2, Engine 4, Engine 9, Engine 29, Ladder 2, and Battalion 1 for a building fire. A caller noted that apartment #9 was involved. After receiving multiple calls, the FCC upgraded the incident to a second alarm at 19:45 hours. The second alarm dispatched Engine 1, Engine 22, Ladder 29, and Rescue 1. At 19:47 hours, Engine 2 arrived on-scene and provided a size up of a two-story apartment building, lazy smoke visible, but no flames. They pulled a pre-connect hoseline for fire attack while Engine 29 arrived and established a water supply. At 19:48 hours, Ladder 2 and Engine 9 arrived on-scene. At 19:50 hours, Ladder 29 and Battalion 1 arrived on-scene. Battalion 1 requested a conditions, actions, needs (CAN) report. Engine 2A responded that they had water on the fire from the exterior Side Charlie/Delta and the fire was located on the first division. Engine 9 entered and was performing searches on the second division. Engine 2 made entry from Side Charlie/Delta for fire control and primary search. Ladder 2 entered the building from the front door located on Side Alpha to perform searches on the first division. Engine 9 reported to Battalion 1 that they did not have a hoseline and that there was no fire on the second division. At 19:54 hours, Battalion 1 assigned Engine 4 to stage on Side Alpha with their rapid intervention team (RIT) gear and requested that Ladder 29 perform a 360 size-up of the building and secure utilities. At 19:55 hours, Engine 9A called a Mayday noting they were cut off with fire in the stairwell on the second division. Ladder 29A reported they had flames lapping up on the Side Delta toward the second division. Battalion 1 ordered multiple units to pull additional hoselines and assist with rescue of the Engine 9 firefighters. At 19:59 hours, Engine 9A reported that they were on the second division landing on Side Alpha. He further reported that his facepiece was melting, they had two firefighters, two firefighters were missing, and they needed water. At 20:01 hours, Engine 9A reported to Battalion 1 they had two firefighters out of the building with Rescue 1 but were still missing two firefighters. Multiple units reported that deteriorating fire conditions were delaying entry to the building. Engine 9A advised Battalion 1 that the missing firefighters were Engine 9C and Engine 9D (deceased firefighter). One minute later, Engine 9C transmitted that he was outside the building. At 20:21 hours, Engine 4A transmitted that they found the downed firefighter on the Bravo/Charlie corner on the first division and requested assistance. At 20:24 hours, Ladder 29A transmitted priority traffic that if all personnel were accounted for, all units should go to a defensive strategy as the second division was now fully involved. At 20:25 hours, Battalion 1 advised the FCC that the victim had been extricated and moved to EMS. Engine 9D was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased. Contributing Factors: Unprotected interior search; Hoseline selection and deployment; Door control/flow path; Mayday operations; Change of occupancy. Key Recommendations - Fire departments should: 1) Ensure that interior search crews' means of egress are protected by a staffed hoseline. 2) Use the appropriate hoseline based on conditions present. 3) Train on recognition of flow paths and interior fire attack techniques utilizing door control. 4) Employ proactive RIT operations for access and egress. Governing municipalities (federal, state, regional/county, and local) should: Ensure that the delegated zoning or building code enforcement authority shares change of occupancy information with the fire department.
• Subjects:
  Firefighters Fires Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Region 9; Fire fighters; Fire fighting; Fatalities; Emergency responders; Recommendations; Accident analysis; Training; Fire safety
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death Trauma (0004) ; Structure Fire (0011) ; Non-Residential (0013)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  Firefighter Fatality Investigation
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Hawaii ; West Virginia ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA] ; San Francisco Region [OSHA]
• 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:
  22 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071005
• 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 F2025-02, 2025 Apr; :1-20
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  20250106
• 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:efb97551882d9b003f9cc74284724da4a4751b8ddee92ad49ac93d98af1d14a93c33ea0790cc0d7a74a20e374288b1b5fa5b64eb422856b5dce1151e098c111b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/257784/cdc_257784_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1017.58 KB ]