1。2 Background 

Firefighting is an inherently dangerous profession that requires extensive training to prepare for the hazards of structural firefighting。 Some of the training often involves live fire training evolutions at burn facilities, either at training academies or at acquired structures。 

From 1991 to 2011, there was an average of 114。7 firefighter fatalities in the United States。3 Of particular interest in this project are the 166 firefighter deaths that occurred during training over the 16 year period, 1996 – 2011。 Of those 166 deaths, 16 (i。e。 an average of one per year) are attributed to live fire training activities。3 Firefighter deaths that occur during training are especially disconcerting, given that training is meant to prevent deaths and injuries and not be their cause。 

From 2000 – 2007, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program investigated seven incidents involving seven firefighters who sustained fatal injuries while participating in live fire training in acquired structures。 These incidents are summarized in Table 1。 All of these fatalities were related 4inpiduals being exposed to severe thermal conditions。 One particularly disturbing aspect of these incidents is that 3 of the 7 fatalities were fire training instructors and not students。 This is attributed to the instructors usually participating in considerably more evolutions per day than inpidual students, which may result in them experiencing multiple significant exposures during the course of a day。

To further describe these line of duty death events, the following are some specific details of incidents where firefighter fatalities occurred during live fire training evolutions:5 

1) Two firefighters were killed in one incident when they were caught in a flashover during search and rescue training in an acquired structure。 One was a 20-year-old in his first week on the fire department。 The fire department had no written policy concerning live burns in acquired structures。 The fire involved wooden pallets, straw and a foam mattress placed on the fire after it was ignited。 Others involved in the training thought the search and rescue team had left the fire room, and could not determine why they had stayed in the room。 A walk-through had been done before the exercise began。 

2) An 18-year-old firefighter recruit died of smoke inhalation during a training exercise where he was playing the victim in an upstairs apartment of an acquired structure。 In that exercise, in addition to a burn barrel, a fire was ignited in the foam mattress of a sleep sofa in the living room downstairs, close to the bottom of the stairs and quickly burned out of control。 The officer in charge of the drill was convicted of negligent homicide。 There was no pre-drill walkthrough; no one knew about the sofa fire; no safety line was in place; and no emergency evacuation ladders were in place。 Two other firefighters were injured。 This exercise was the first time the victim, who had received no formal training, wore SCBA in fire conditions。 Although he was wearing his facepiece when found, his face was burned, indicating that he had removed the facepiece during the fire development。 

3) A firefighter igniting the final burn in an acquired structure died of smoke inhalation and burns after he became trapped in the attic。 The victim used atomized diesel fuel through a garden sprayer on combustibles and directly on a free-burning fire in the attic, resulting in a flash fire。 The combustibles used in the exercise included hay and debris found in the attic。 

Aside from firefighter fatalities, each year a significant number of firefighters are injured while engaged in training exercises。 During the 2011 calendar year 7,515 firefighters were injured during all types of training activities。 The types of injuries are summarized in Table 2。6