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 body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the Shenandoah Retirement Home Fire in Roanoke County, Virginia on December 14, 1989. 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 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.

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 report identifies relationships between city characteristics and the causes of residential fires, with special emphasis on climate, demographic, and socioeconomic factors.

This report delineates the fire risk factors and presents the statistics regarding the fire problem among the elderly in the United States.

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.

Fire departments in the United States responded to nearly 1.6 million fire calls in 2007. The United States fire problem, on a per capita basis, is one of the worst in the industrial world. Thousands of Americans die each year, tens of thousands of people are injured, and property losses reach billions of dollars. There are huge indirect costs of fire as well-temporary lodging, lost business, medical expenses, psychological damage, and others. These indirect costs may be as much as 8- to 10-times higher than the direct costs of fire. To put this in context, the annual losses from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters combined in the United States average just a fraction of those from fires. The public, the media, and local governments generally are unaware of the magnitude and seriousness of the fire problem to individuals and their families, to communities, and to the Nation. The National Fire Data Center (NFDC) of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) periodically publishes Fire in the United States, a statistical overview of the fires in the United States with the focus on the latest year in which data were available at the time of preparation. This report is designed to equip the fire service and others with information that motivates corrective action, sets priorities, targets specific fire programs, serves as a model for State and local analyses of fire data, and provides a baseline for evaluating programs. This Fifteenth Edition covers the 5-year period of 2003 to 2007 with a primary focus on 2007. Only native National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) 5.0 data are used for NFIRS-based analyses. In 2007, the native NFIRS 5.0 data account for 98 percent of the fire incident data. The report addresses the overall national fire problem.

This special report examines seven case studies of tire fires that have been typical of those in the United States. The case studies were selected because they occurred in varied circumstances and locations. However, they reveal a common pattern of challenges in tire fire prevention and extinguishment.

This report continues a series of annual studies by the USFA of onduty firefighter fatalities in the United States. The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all onduty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year. The unique and specific objective of this study is to identify all onduty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States and its protectorates in 1999, 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 1999 overall findings, this study includes special analyses on vehicle collisions and personal protective clothing and equipment use.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the Santana Row Development Fire in San Jose, California on August 19, 2002. This information 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 discusses the Broward County off-shore emergency response plan, the background considerations made that were used to set up the drill, the drill itself, and lessons learned from the drill. Many fire and rescue organizations can benefit from the concepts in this response plan, even though the plan was specifically designed for an off-shore response at a particular location. Its concept and design can be applied to almost any type of disaster that involves multiple agencies. The lessons learned are applicable to almost any type of multi-casualty incident or exercise.

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 9th edition of Fire in the United States covers the 10-year period from 1985 to 1994, with emphasis on 1994- the most recent year for which complete data are available. This report is designed to arm the fire service and others with a statistical overview of the fire problem that can motivate corrective action.

This Fifteenth Edition covers the 5-year period of 2003 to 2007 with a primary focus on 2007. Only native National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) 5.0 data are used for NFIRS-based analyses. In 2007, the native NFIRS 5.0 data account for 98 percent of the fire incident data.

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

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 nature of a fire completely destroyed three businesses and damaged several other buildings on the boardwalk in the seaside resort community of Wildwood, New Jersey on August 29, 2000. 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 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 body of work provides detailed information regarding the Northern Illinois University shooting on February 14, 2008. 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.

This body of work provides detailed information on the fire on Tuesday, January 31, 1995 which destroyed Milliken & Company's Live Oak/Milstar Complex and Carpet Service Center in LaGrange, Georgia. 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.

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.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of a major Fire at Logan Valley Mall in Altoona, Pennsylvania. 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.

This report was prepared by TriData Corporation, Arlington, Virginia, under contract to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), National Fire Data Center. It presents an overview of the landfill fire problem. Issues examined include the landfill components that create fire hazards; the effect of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations and landfill cleanup efforts; a profile of landfill fires including their characteristics, methods of extinguishing, and safety issues for firefighters; prevention efforts to reduce landfill fires; and past examples of significant landfill fires and lessons learned.

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.