Three Pittsburgh firefighters died on February 14, 1995, when they ran out of air and were unable to escape from the interior of a burning dwelling. This incident illustrates the need for effective incident management, communications, and personnel accountability systems, even at seemingly routine incidents. It also reinforces the need for regular maintenance and inspection of self-contained breathing apparatus, emphasizes the need for PASS devices to be used at every fire, and identifies the need for training to address firefighter survival in unanticipated emergency situations.

This report characterizes that nature of the fire problem in urban areas of the United States.

Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) are one of the most important items of personal protective equipment used by firefighters and rescue personnel. SCBA allow firefighters to enter hazardous environments to perform essential interior operations including offensive fire attack, victim search, rescue and removal, ventilation, and overhaul. They are also used at non-fire incidents involving hazardous materials and confined spaces where there is a threat of toxic fumes or an oxygen-deficient atmosphere. There have been several well-documented incidents during the past 10 years where SCBA failure may have been a contributing factor in the deaths or injuries of firefighters . These incidents, coupled with a recognition of the importance of self-contained breathing apparatus to firefighter safety, prompted the United States Fire Administration to undertake this study to address any operations trends associated with SCBA failure incidents, and to identify potential problems requiring correction or further study.

This report is part of a series of reports on technical rescue incidents across the United States. The investigation report provides detailed information about the magnitude and nature of the incident; how the response to the incident was carried out and managed; the impact of the incident on emergency responders and the emergency response systems in the community; and the lessons learned.

This report is part of a series of reports on technical rescue incidents across the United States. The investigation report provides detailed information about the magnitude and nature of the incident; how the response to the incident was carried out and managed; the impact of the incident on emergency responders and the emergency response systems in the community; and the lessons learned.

A fire originating in the compactor chute of a 35-story high-rise apartment building in the Harlem area of New York City caused the deaths of seven building residents. Several code enforcement and fire department operational problems may have contributed to the loss. The U.S. Fire Administration had planned to investigate this fire because of its many important lessons but would only do so with the express permission of appropriate authority. The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) requested that the investigation be delayed until a preliminary internal investigation was completed. When the preliminary FDNY report was issued, the Fire Administration found it to be of such high quality and candor that an additional investigation did not seem likely to add much to the lessons of interest nationally. This report summarizes some of the lessons learned on the FDNY report and discussions with members of the investigation team.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of a fire in a Seattle Warehouse in January 1995 where four fire fighters died. This investigation will assist policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This report documents the nature of the fire problem in rural areas of the United States. While other studies have explored various aspects of rural fires, this report provides an analysis of both rural fire deaths and the unique characteristics of fires that occur in rural areas. The report is divided into two major parts. The first part uses data from the U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) to delineate the character of rural fires. The second part explores rural fire deaths and how they are distributed by age, race, and gender.

This handbook was created to help women who would like to become career, volunteer, or seasonal firefighters, as well as those who have just started on the job and are seeking guidance. It offers insights and suggestions from women who have been there: female firefighters, officers, and chiefs from all across the country. It attempts to present firefighting as it really is--neither glamorized nor trivialized--and to share answers to questions women commonly have about working in this still nontraditional field.

The purposes of this report include: 1- documenting all fatal crashes involving fire department tankers since 1990; 2- analyzing the causes and common factors associated with these crashes; 3- highlighting pertinent case histories that show examples of the problem; 4- providing information on reducing the frequency of these crashes and minimizing their severity/impact when unavoidable crashes occur; and 5- providing example procedures and checklists to assist departments in reducing the likelihood of tanker crashes.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the fire problem for policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This planning guide will introduce you to a simple, easy-to-use planning process to develop a fire safety program for your community. Since the planning process is based on the experiences of other rural communities, we know all the steps work. Examples throughout the guide will help you apply each step to your community. These examples, along with the other information, make using the steps straightforward. All of the information in this planning guide is based on the U S Fire Administration's (USFA's) booklet Public Fire Education Planning: A Five-Step Process.

Public Fire Education Planning: A Five-Step Process describes a systematic approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating community safety education programs. This manual will help those of you who are new to community safety education understand some of the basic concepts about how to get started with an organization's community safety education programs. It also will assist you with some hints and techniques on a variety of topics, such as methods for locating partners to assist with community education or techniques for locating resources for your safety programs.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the $15 Million Sight and Sound Theater Fire and Building Collapse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on January 28, 1997. It will assist policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the Sherwin-Williams Paint Warehouse Fire In Dayton Ohio on May 27, 1987. It will assist policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This body of work provides detailed information on the LP-Gas Tank Explosion which killed two volunteer firefighters. This report will assist policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

The report that follows presents results based on data from US local fire departments participating in a needs assessment survey.

In view of the potential and significant hazards associated with matrix contamination, the United States Fire Administration, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency sponsored this preliminary study to develop a method for determining the presence of chemical contamination in protective clothing used by fire department HazMat teams. Ultimately, the objective of the study was to develop a method to be used by HazMat teams to assess the efficacy of decontamination procedures and to aid in reuse decision regarding reusable CPC.

In the Spring of 2004, the U S Fire Administration (USFA) partnered with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in a cooperative agreement project entitled Mitigating the Rural Fire Problem. The purpose of the project was to examine what can be done to reduce the high death rate from fires in rural U S communities

This report includes California's Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System and its evolution, how mutual aid is used in major fire and non-fire incidents, and discusses some reasons for its success over the years. The purpose of the report is to share lessons learned to help other States advance their systems and give the fire service in general some useful ideas on providing mutual aid.

The 12th edition of Fire in the United States covers the 10-year period from 1989 to 1998, with emphasis on 1998. As usual in this series, this edition describes the overall national fire problem; examines aspects of the problem in residential and non-residential structures, vehicles, and outside fires; and addresses casualties sustained by firefighters in the line of duty. Additionally, this report presents the number of fires and deaths in each state for 1998 and, where available, the 10-year trends. Special analyses address the problem of fire as it related to the very young and to older adults. These individuals are at higher-than-average risk from fire, a problem receiving high attention by the USFA.

This report continues a series of annual studies by the USFA of on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States. The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year. The unique and specific objective of this study is to identify all on-duty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States and its protectorates in 2005, and to present in summary form the circumstances surrounding each occurrence. The study is intended to help identify approaches that could reduce the number of firefighter deaths in future years. In addition to the 2005 overall findings, this study includes information on firefighter accountability programs.

This document is to help the fire service manager cope with the firefighting workforce as it changes from an all-male environment to one that includes women. The handbook offers guidance and suggestions from people who have experience and expertise in the areas that affect women's integration into fire suppression ranks. It takes a wide perspective, and, as is appropriate with personnel issues in general, offers choices and options more often than single "right" answers. The Changing Face of the Fire Service helps the fire service manager cope with the firefighting workforce as it changes from an all-male environment to one that includes women. The handbook offers guidance and suggestions from people who have experience and expertise in the areas that affect women's integration into fire suppression ranks. It takes a wide perspective, and, as is appropriate with personnel issues in general, offers choice s and options more often than single "right" answers. It attempts to answer the most frequently asked questions about women in firefighting. It focuses specifically on the issues of recruitment, entry-level physical testing, firefighter training, maternity and reproductive safety, hair-length standards, fire station facilities, sexual harassment, cultural diversity training, ongoing support, and protective gear and uniforms.

This study analyzed the use of sprinklered and non-sprinklered fire protection options in existing small Board and Care homes.