Worcester Cold Storage Tragedy On December 3, 1999, a five-alarm fire at the Worcester Cold Storage & Warehouse Co. building claimed the lives of six brave firefighters who responded to the call. These six heros, The Worcester 6, sacrificed their lives to try and rescue two individuals who were believed to be trapped inside the […]

A new USFA topical fire report, Civilian Fire Fatalities in Residential Buildings (2008-2010), examines the characteristics of civilian fire fatalities in residential buildings. Unintentional/careless actions and smoking are the leading causes of these fatal fires.

On what began as an uneventful Saturday night twenty-one years ago, a fire on the 22nd floor of the 38-story Meridian Bank Building, also known as One Meridian Plaza, was reported to the Philadelphia Fire Department.

Remembrance: Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse Fire and the Worcester Six

  The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) United States Fire Administration (USFA) have recently issued a special report examining the characteristics and causes of Large Loss Building Fires (PDF, 834 Kb).  The report, developed by USFA’s National Fire Data Center, is based on 2007 to 2009 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). […]

During this week, there were on average, over 8,600 structure fires in the United States. According to NFPA statistics the following occur on average in the U.S; A fire department responded to a fire every 23 seconds. One structure fire was reported every 66 seconds. One home structure fire was reported every 87 seconds One civilian fire injury […]

The Second National Fire Service Research Agenda Symposium was recently convened and held at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland that brought together some of the leading national fire researchers and a cross section of a who’s who in fire service leadership to complete an intensive two days of interaction and engagement to […]

While the number of structural fires in the United States continues to decline, firefighter line of duty deaths (LODD) do not exhibit the same rate of proportion decline. A review of both NFPA and USFA Firefighter LODD annual reports, statistics and retrospective studies and analysis suggest a noted change in the adverse trends noted for […]

Provisional 2010 Firefighter Fatality Statistics The United States Fire Administration (USFA) recently released the Provisional 2010 Firefighter Fatality Statistics. According to the report there were 85 onduty firefighter fatalities in the United States as a result of incidents that occurred in 2010, a 6 percent decrease from the 90 fatalities reported for 2009. The 85 […]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) issued a special report examining the details of firefighter injuries sustained on the fireground or while responding to or returning from a fire incident. The report, Fire-Related Firefighter Injuries Reported to NFIRS , was developed by USFA’s National Fire Data Center and is further evidence […]