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Firefighter Dies After Falling into the Basement due to Floor Collapse at a Modular Home Structure Fire – Missouri
Death in the Line of Duty…A summary of a NIOSH fire fighter fatality investigation
F2020-02 Date Released: August 2024
Executive Summary
On January 5, 2020, a 30-year-old career firefighter died after falling into the basement due to a floor collapse at a residential structure fire. The occupants tried to fight the fire before calling 9-1-1, which caused an estimated 6to 9-minute delay in notifying thefire department. At 11:04:49hours, fire dispatch transmitted a1st Alarm assignment for a residential structure fire.
Contributing Factors
- Delayed notification of the fire to the 9-1-1 center
- Lack of continuous scene size-up and risk assessment
- Lack of crew integrity
- Building construction – modular home
- Basement fire
- Wind-impacted fire
- Lack of incident management, including management of a Mayday
- Lack of personnel accountability
- Lack of a rapid intervention crew(s)
- Inadequate fireground communications
- Portable radio operational issues
- Inadequate staffing
- Initial lack of a secured water supply
- Lack of proficiency training
Key Recommendations
- Fire departments should ensure the first arriving resource conducts a scene size-up and risk assessment, determines the incident’s strategy, and incident action plan, and assumes command. This information is communicated in the initial radio report.
- Fire departments should ensure that company officers and firefighters maintain crew integrity when operating in the hazard zone
- Fire departments should ensure that all companies are operating based upon the assignment given by the incident commander. The Task-Location-Objective assignments should be communicated over the radio, which eliminates freelancing and ensures that tactical priorities are met
- Fire departments need to ensure that critical incident benchmarks are communicated to the incident commander throughout the incident
- Fire departments should use NFPA 1700, Guide for Structural Fire Fighting to develop and revise fireground operational procedures
- Fire departments should develop and implement a standard operating procedure (SOP)/standard operating guideline (SOG) for tactical operations involving modular homes
- Fire departments should review and update their SOP/SOG for tactical operations involving below-grade fires
- Fire departments should develop and implement SOPs/SOGs, training programs, and tactics for wind-impacted fires
- Fire departments should ensure incident commanders establish a stationary command post that is tied to a vehicle for effective incident management, which includes the use of a tactical worksheet
- Fire departments should incorporate the principles of command safety into the incident management system. This ensures that the strategic-level safety responsibilities are incorporated into the command functions throughout the incident
- Fire departments should ensure that all firefighters and fire officers are trained for Mayday operations
- Fire departments should provide a Mayday tactical worksheet for incident commanders in the event of a Mayday
- Fire departments should ensure all members and dispatchers are trained on the safety features of their portable radio, particularly the features useful during a Mayday
- Fire departments should ensure all firefighter portable radio volume-power knobs cannot be accidentally turned down or off when in use
- Fire departments should use a functional personnel accountability system, requiring a designated accountability officer or resource status officer
- Fire departments should regularly review and revise their SOP/SOG on the deployment of rapid intervention crew(s)
- Fire departments should review and/or develop SOG/SOP to ensure that water supply is established and maintained during initial fireground operations, particularly in areas with limited or no hydrants
- Fire departments should ensure that all members engaged in emergency operations receive annual proficiency training and evaluation on fireground operations, including live fire training. This training should be conducted with automatic aid fire departments.