TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2002//
TI  - Incident-level risk factors for firefighter injuries at structural fires
JO  - Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
A1  - Fabio, Anthony
A1  - Ta, Myduc
A1  - Strotmeyer, Stephen
A1  - Li, Wenjun
A1  - Schmidt, E.
SP  - 1059
EP  - 1063
VL  - 44
IS  - 11
N2  - 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.
LA  - 
SN  - 1076-2752
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -