Fire departments from Gainesville, Fla., to Siloam Springs, Alaska, took action against line-of-duty-deaths by answering only emergency calls and participating in the International Firefighter Stand Down 2006 on June 21, according to the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

The focus of this year’s stand down was vehicle safety. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, approximately 25% of the 106 line-of-duty deaths in 2005 were the result of vehicle-related accidents.

“We must stop killing and injuring firefighters,” said IAFC President Chief Bill Killen. “Thousands of fire departments are doing something to reduce line-of-duty deaths through the stand down.”

A “stand down” is a military term that is used to correct an issue that has become an obvious problem. The stand down is used to raise awareness and to take action against the problem as a whole.

“The health and safety of our members continues to be a number one-priority,” said Harold Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters. “I applaud our affiliates and all of the fire service organizations that remain united in the goal to reduce the number of line-of-duty firefighter deaths and injuries.”

Although the stand down theme was vehicle safety, departments approached it in their own style, from off-road vehicle courses to simulated fire courses. The Gainesville (Fla.) Fire Department continued its stand down beyond June 21; every member of the department is going through a building fire simulation in a run-down apartment complex.

Fort Wayne (Ind.) Fire Rescue refreshed its members on the importance of safety and their philosophy “risk a life to save a life” as well as vehicle safety. Each member of the Fort Wayne department took a course and online quiz on driver operations and intersection safety. The fire academy reported that, more than 100 responses to the course had been received.

“I have a real passion for safety and especially for this [stand down]. I hammer safety into all my departments’ heads,” said Larry Fisher, Fort Wayne district chief and health and safety officer. “We try to be proactive about safety instead of reacting to bad situations like vehicle accidents and faulty equipment.”

The IAFC posted a recommended activity schedule for the day and a list of actions and topics that could be reviewed. Suggested actions included a moment of silence for fallen firefighters in the morning; a review of causes of line-of-duty deaths; and apparatus and equipment checks, such as checking for seatbelt defects. Vehicle safety and operation checks were of great importance this year; the IAFC suggested reviewing operation of seatbelts, street familiarization drills and a review of near-miss accidents.

The National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System is a voluntary, confidential, non-punitive and secure reporting system with the goal of improving firefighter safety. Near-miss program managers provided a number of resources for departments to use during their stand down.

“We showed our departments the stand down PowerPoint that was available through the iafc Web site,” said Andy Webster, a firefighter with the Hickory (N.C.) Fire Department. “[We] also created a more personal PowerPoint about vehicle safety that gave examples of deaths and survival of local firefighters, so it brought it close to home.”