Wildfire Today’s Bill Gabbert points us to this report from Dick Mangan of Blackbull Wildfire Services that details wildland fire fatalities between 2007 and 2009.
Mangan’s insights are drawn from data from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Safety and Health Working Team.
Mangan breaks down the dry data from NWCG and gives us a well detailed narrative with the insights you expect from a 30 year wildland fire veteran.
I was surprised to find that only one (1) firefighter died from a burnover in the past three years. Aviation related accidents claimed the most lives (16) and heart attacks killed ten wildland firefighters between 2007 and 2009. Mangan observations and conclusions are notable and very much worth the read.
The 2009 wildland fatalities data from the NWCG”s SHWT can be found here.
