The 62,085 injuries suffered by U.S. firefighters in 2016 reflected an 8.8 percent decrease from 2015, making this the lowest rate of injury since 1981 – the year the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) began analyzing firefighter injury data.
The latest data from the NFPA, released as part of the latest edition of its “U.S. Firefighter Injuries” report, show that the leading injury types in 2016 were: Strains, sprains and/or muscular pains (52.6 percent), and wounds, cuts, bleeding, and bruising (15.2 percent). Some 19,050 (30.6 percent) of injuries resulted in lost time.
The statistics were collected from fire departments responding to NFPA’s annual U.S. Fire Experience survey.
Firefighters were more likely to be injured on the fireground, resulting in 24,325 (39.2 percent) of the firefighter injuries. The leading cause of injury during fireground operations was overexertion and strain (27.1 percent). Injuries also occurred off the fireground. Other types of duty that resulted in firefighter injury were: