By Bill Carey
12 October 2024
September concluded with eight on-duty firefighter deaths, bringing the total for 2024 to 46. This is slightly more than half of the total for the same period in 2023 (81 on October 5, 2023, with 93 total for the year).
Based on historical data and monthly averages, 2024 could potentially record the lowest number of on-duty deaths in all years since the United States Fire Administration (USFA) began tracking:
- 2023: 93 total, 80 on October 4
- 2022: 98 total, 80 on October 4
- 2021: 141 total, 109 on October 3
- 2020: 102 total, 76 on October 7
- 2019: 64 total, 46 on October 4 (the lowest total year to date)
- 2018: 86 total, 68 on October 4
- 2017: 93 total, 70 on October 8 (the only year to date with one traumatic interior line-of-duty death)
- 2016: 92 total, 71 on September 27
- 2015: 90 total, 69 on September 26
- 2014: 96 total, 84 on October 7
It’s important to note that the USFA occasionally updates its totals from previous years without prior notice. For instance, at the beginning of this year, I reported that 2023 had ended with 85 total on-duty deaths according to the USFA. Since then, eight additional firefighter fatalities have been added to last year’s total. Our fatality data is continuously updated, and both readers and writers should remain aware of this.
If the average monthly rate of around five on-duty deaths continues, 2024 could end with approximately 60 total fatalities, setting a new record low—assuming no major incidents involving multiple firefighter fatalities occur.
Of the eight deaths in September, none were directly related to interior firefighting operations. Four died due to trauma: one in an explosion during a tractor-trailer fire, and three others when trees fell on their vehicles during a hurricane (two of them in a single incident). One firefighter suffered a medical emergency while shuttling water during a structure fire, another had a heart attack at home after responding to two calls, and two more suffered medical emergencies during training.
Photograph courtesy of Unsplash.
Data Not Drama 