As our work on the 2017 Annual Incident Review Summary continues, we’ve got some more analysis to share with you. Read this. Do the Exercise, and give us some feedback. The final version of the 2017 Annual Incident Review Summary will be out soon!
By Travis Dotson
We love to know how many firefighters died. It’s the only number anyone has ever frantically demanded of the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center – all other numbers inspire no urgency.
Why do we want to know? What is this morbid fascination? Is it morbid?
The highly esteemed Urban Dictionary has a definition for the term “Fatal Attraction” –
“An attraction between an individual and someone/something that is so strong, the individual lacks reason and logic in their thinking when dealing with their attraction.”
Does our fascination with firefighter fatalities fit this description? Do we lack reason and logic when dealing with our attraction? The most basic line of thinking goes something like this – if we pay attention to dead firefighters there will be fewer dead firefighters in the future. That feels reasonable, but is it?
Here are the basics from 2017.
2017 Wildland Firefighter Fatalities
Vehicle Accident: 4
Medical Emergency: 3
Hit by Tree: 3
Entrapment: 2
Hit by Straw: 1
Chainsaw Cut: 1
Total: 14
Now what?
How will you use logic and reason when thinking about this topic?
Is this year any different? Here are the numbers from the past ten years:
We can go past ten years as well. The average number of fatalities over the past 30 years is just under 17. In case you are wondering, that’s 500 deaths since 1988.
Now what?
I don’t know – and I’m the analyst at the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center.
What if we just thought about how we talk about Line of Duty Death?
Gather up with your fellow risk-takers and do this:
Exercise (30 minutes)
Part 1 (5 mins)
- Individually list as many “sayings” as you can about Line of Duty Deaths – for example, “we haven’t found any new ways to kill firefighters” or “all our lessons are written in blood.”
Part 2 (25 mins)
- Take turns saying one to the larger group. Discuss what these sayings really communicate.
- Are they true?
- Are they useful?
I have no idea if that exercise includes any logic or reason, but it does get us to examine the words we use and why.
Maybe we should try changing our words – or at least know exactly why we say them.
This is not exactly along the lines of your exercise.
In my quest, originally just a question of leadership, to know how many have died while fighting fire on our unit I was surprised that not one person knew. There was an individual keeping track, but not a current employee, this task should be more than a hobby for an outsider as it is an important part of our units history and more in depth than current records indicate. As a leader I demand to understand the history of where I work and to celebrate the sacrifice firefighters have made before me and hope that others do the same.
I appreciate the work you fellas do as it gives us an opportunity to learn from incidents. I would consider it one of the most respectful acts we can provide the injured or dead.
As always, thought provoking work Travis! What hit me square was the 500 since 1988. That’s a lot. Hadn’t thought about it that way. Made me really reflect on my career……….What am I gonna do to slow this trend? Good discussion to have with our troops here. Thanks!