In 2023, 89 firefighters in the United States died from traumatic injuries, heart attacks, strokes, or aneurysms while on duty or within 24 hours of duty. This fatal injury count is a decrease over the 97 fatal injuries the previous year, but it is otherwise the second highest since 2013, during which there were 98 on-duty deaths.
The increase in recorded fatalities over the past two years has been substantially influenced by the inclusion of deaths that occurred within 24 hours of duty. Prior to 2022, these deaths were not included in the study unless victims expressed a specific physical complaint while on duty.
Of the 89 firefighters who died of on-duty injuries in 2023, 80 were municipal firefighters and nine were non-municipal firefighters. The municipal firefighters included 48 volunteer firefighters, 30 career firefighters, and two paid part-time firefighters.