Hazard Identification

Injuries and Fatalities

Forest fires cause an assortment of direct injuries (Patz, Engelberg, and Last 2000).

Accidents caused by reduced visibility

The principle connection between visibility and human health is that the reduction of visibility due to smoke from wildland and prescribed fires can cause highway vehicle accidents leading to injuries and fatalities (Schwela and others 2000). Detailed statistics are not readily available for the injuries and fatalities in the South caused by a reduction in visibility due to forest fire smoke. Some information, however, is available. Between 1979 and 1988 there were more than 28 deaths, 60 serious injuries, plus many minor injuries on roadways in the South due to low visibility (Mobley 1990). In 2000, reduced visibility on highways caused by forest fire smoke resulted in 5 automobile deaths in Florida and 5 automobile deaths in Mississippi (Achtemeier 2002). In June 2000, a 14-mile section of Interstate 95 was closed when forest fire smoke reduced visibility to near zero and caused 5 traffic accidents in one morning (Machlis 2002).

Super fog – an extremely dense combination of smoke and water vapor that is emitted from smoldering fires and the burning of wet fuels – is very dangerous when vehicle drivers encounter it along roadways (Achtemeier 2002). A 2002 wildfire in South Florida produced super-fog that caused a pileup with several fatalities on Interstate 75. Five people were killed and another 26 people were injured on the Mississippi/Alabama border in 2000 in an accident caused by super fog. People who encounter super fog while they are driving have a very difficult time navigating their vehicles because of the drastic reduction in visibility. Visibility can decrease to as low as three feet when super fog is present.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Acute exposure to carbon monoxidein doses high enough to dramatically reduce blood oxygen is deadly (Therriault 2001). Thus, carbon monoxide poisoning, or carboxyhemoglobin, can cause premature death. Carbon monoxide poisoning also causes atheriosclerosis leading to premature death (Evans and Campbell 1983). Some studies show that disease can result from interactions of carbon monoxide with nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides (Evans and Campbell 1983).

Premature Deaths

Premature death can result from inhalation of particulate matter (Patz, Engelberg, and Last 2000). People who live in areas with high levels of particulate matter have reduced life expectancy (Brauer 1999). Numerous studies document an association between sudden, tremendous increases in particulate matter and increases in daily mortality (Schwartz and others 1993). Acute exposure to less dramatic increases in particulate matter have also been associated with higher death rates (Schwartz and others 1993).

Dockery and Pope (1994) cite a set of studies that document a consistent correlation between increases in particulate matter and increases in daily mortality. In a study in Kingston, Tennessee researchers found that for each 10 l/m³ increase in particulate matter (PM₁₀) there is a 1.6% change in daily mortality. Similarly, in Birmingham, Alabama researchers documented that for each 10 l/m³ increase in particulate matter (PM₁₀) there is a 1.0% change in total daily mortality including a 1.5% increase in respiratory mortality, and a 1.6% increase in cardiovascular mortality. Also notable in these studies is the association between each 10 l/m³ increase in particulate matter (PM₁₀) and an 0.8% rise in the numbers of patients admitted to hospitals, a 1.0% rise in the number of patients who sought emergency care, and a 3.4% rise in asthmatic patients who sought emergency care. Among people with asthma there was a 3% increase in both asthmatic attacks and bronchodilator use. Deaths due to cancer and problems other than heart and lung damage were not associated with rises in particulate matter (PM₁₀) in any of these studies.While the statistically significant links between air pollution and premature deaths due to heart and lung problems are well documented, it is difficult to demonstrate that one is a direct cause of the other. Dockery and Pope (1994) suggest particulate matter is an additional environmental stressor that promotes premature death for vulnerable people and those who have pre-existing health problems. Indeed, particulate matter in urban and indoor air pollution causes respiratory illness and disease that lead to premature death in infants, the elderly, and people with pre-existing heart and lung disorders (Brauer 1999).

Injuries and Deaths Among Firefighters

As anoccupational group, firefightersencounter numerous injuries and deaths from a variety of causes. The most common causes of death for career fire fighters are heart failure related to stress and overexertion, asphyxiation, and traumatic injuries. Many of the firefighters who died from heart failure while on duty had pre-existing conditions such as a previous heart attack. Vehicle crashes cause many firefighter deaths when considering both structural and wildland firefighters (NFPA 2004). The most common causes of death for volunteer fire fighters were asphyxiation and traumatic injury from accidents involving motor vehicles. Motor vehicle accidents cause deaths and injuries among both volunteer and career firefighters who are traveling to or from fire sites. Several programs and organizations have been established to address firefighter safety. Many firefighter deaths are preventable.

On the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) website, is a list of firefighter injuries and deaths from 1910-2002. Since 1910, 883 firefighters have died while on duty. The following list enumerates the numbers of fatalities for some of the main causes of accidents from 1910-2002:

Burnover	433
Heart attack	93
Aircraft accidents	47
Snag	32
Helicopter accidents	30
Airtanker accidents	25
Engine rollover	22
Burns	21
Dozer burnover	16
Electrocution	9

Deaths from heart attacks occur during fires. For example, in 1998 an Alabama Forestry Commission employee died of a heart attack while he who was constructing a fireline (Wade 1998). In 2000, a driver/operator died from arrythmia brought on by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease shortly after clearing debris from a fireline as part of the USDA Forest Service Wildland Fire Fighter “red card” certification program. In 2004 a 42-year old man died while responding to the lightning-caused Mailbox fire on the Osceola Ranger District of the National Forests in Florida.

Firefighters sometimes become victims of unpredictable fire behavior. In 1999, two volunteer fire fighters died when they were overrun as they tried to flee upslope from a fire advancing through a hollow. A Forest Ranger died after receiving second- and third-degree burns over 60% of his body. This Forest Ranger received burns while fleeing on foot from an advancing fire after a blade on his bulldozer got stuck in a tree.

Contact with electrical currents caused 10 firefighter deaths between 1980 and 1999 according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Some of the avenues through which fire fighters come into contact with electrical currents are: downed power lines; electrical currents transmitted through the ground; water application tools charged with electrical currents; electrically charged equipment and gear; and smoke conducting electrical currents.