Firefighter fatalities are occurring at the same rate today that they were 20 years ago. Although the number of fatalities has dropped, it is simply because there are fewer fires. The following graph shows fireground fatalities per 100,000 fires over the last 20 years. Despite all the efforts that have been made to reduce firefighter fatalities and injuries over the last two decades—such as changes in command and control procedures, improvements in personal protective equipment, and deployment of rapid intervention teams—these measures have made little impact, as shown by the black trend line in the graph.
Over the past two decades, there’s been an annual average of more than 76,000 injuries and almost 90 fatalities in the U.S. fire service.