title: Incident-level risk factors for firefighter injuries at structural fires.
abstract: Firefighting is a demanding occupation, laden with hazardous exposures which result in traumatic injuries. Little epidemiologic evidence exists quantifying these factors, however. We conducted an incident-level case-control study of National Fire Incident Reporting System data of the association between firefighter injury and incident characteristics. Risk factors included 5 or more alarms (OR = 3.85; 95% CI, 3.32-4.48), number of stories (> 3 vs. ground level OR = 2.49; 95% CI, 1.43 to 1.55), and at least one civilian injury (OR = 3.69; 95% CI, 3.55-3.84). Risk of injury was reduced for fires originating 49 feet and higher (OR = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.49-0.66). This analysis suggests that fireground-specific situations such as the number of stories or a civilian injury increase the risk of injury. Given the danger of firefighting, the identification of risk factors through epidemiologic methods is vital to developing safety measures.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Center for Injury Research and Control, 200 Lothrop Street, Suite B400-PUH, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. fabioa@msx.upmc.edu
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fabio
authors.forename: Myduc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ta
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Strotmeyer
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003625:Data Collection; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D015208:Smoke Inhalation Injury / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology