Who and Where - Wildfire Fatalities

Everyone exposed to wildfire is also subject to the deadly hazards of fire. Not only are there risks associated with confronting a fire, there are risks when working around potentially harmful equipment under stressful working conditions. Many times participants are not well trained and are not equipped properly nor physically up to the task.

The U. S. Forest Service has compiled a report that quantifies fatalities on wildland fires by firefighter condition and where those fatal fires were located. Here is a brief overview of who is involved in fighting wildfire and where they work.

Organizations

Volunteer firefighters are the most likely group to die fighting a wildland fire. The most common cause of death was either heart attack or vehicle accident. Over the report's nine year study, 41 volunteers died. Of these 41 deaths: 18 died from vehicle accidents, 17 from heart attacks, five from fire and electrocution. Interestingly, fire did not directly kill most volunteers - equipment operation and poor health did.

Government firefighters including Federal, State and City/county lost a total of 60 firefighters. Two major disasters, the South Canyon Fire and the Arizona Dude Fire, killed 20 of those firefighters - this was one third of all deaths during the 1990-1998 reporting period. Of these government employee deaths: 32 resulted from burnovers, 7 from heart attacks, 6 from aircraft accidents, 4 from vehicle accidents, and 11 from various other causes.

Contractors working on wildland fire operations suffered 28 fatalities in the 1990 to 1998 period: 23 died in aircraft accidents with other fatalities occurring from falling snags, heart attacks, and vehicle accidents. Many, if not most, were contract flyers.

Here are the percentages of fatalities by organization, 1990-1998:

Volunteer - 31%
Federal - 26%
Contractor- 21%
State - 14%
County/city - 5%
Private - 2%
Military - 1%

Geographic Areas

A majority of the states in the U.S. had fire fatalities during the period analyzed. Personnel died in 33 states from 1990 to 1998.

According to the U.S. Forest Service Wildland Firefighting Fatalies report, "Thirteen States experienced three or more deaths, five had two, 10 States had a single firefighter death." The report also indicated that 65% of all fatalities were west of the Mississippi River. The Southern region had the lowest fatality rate at 21%.

Here are states with the most tragic reports in order of number of fatalities:

California - 26
Colorado - 16
Arizona - 9
New Mexico and Texas - 8
Montana and Idaho - 7
Alabama - 5
Oregon - 5
Utah and Oklahoma - 4

Developed from the USFS report Wildland Fire Fatalities in the United States 1990-1998 , March 1999

1st Report > Wildfire Fatalities - An Introduction
3rd Report > Wildfire Fatalities - Fatal Incidents