According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 20 line-of-duty deaths were recorded in wildland fire incidents last year, a 33% decrease over the 30 deaths recorded in 2003.

Heart attack was the leading cause of death, followed by driving accidents. Only one wildland firefighter lost his life in a burnover while fighting a fire.

The final safety report released by National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Safety & Health Working Team, with confirmation of 2004 fatalities from the National Fire Protection Association, reports fatalities last year in the following categories:

• 9 from heart attack: 2 associated with the Work Capacity Tests and 7 related to firefighting.
• 5 while driving: 8 accidents involving 21 personnel.
• 3 in aviation: 2 in single-engine air tankers and 1 helicopter accident.
• 1 in prescribed fire: 4 accidents occurred on prescribed fires involving 6 firefighters.
• 1 in burnover/entrapment: 6 burnover/entrapment incidents occurred involving 44 personnel; 12 shelters deployed.
• 1 pedestrian accident: Firefighter killed while crossing a road.
  

A relatively light wildland season in most of the lower 50 states was a major contributing factor to the decrease, said NIFC spokesman Mike Apicello. Nationally, 2004 was rated a “light to moderate” year for fires, with 65,461 fires burning 8 million acres. The number of fires was well below the 10-year average of 80,224 fires per year, while the acres burned were well above the average --about 8 million. By comparison, 85,943 fires burned in 2003 over 4.9 million acres.

“In other words, on number of fires we were at about 82% of the 10-year average, but we burned 182% of the average acres,” said Apicello.

By far, the largest share of those acres burned -- about 6.5 million -- burned in Alaska, which had its worst fire season on record.

Apicello also attributes the decrease in fire deaths to a “heightened awareness of individual responsibility for safety and better decision-making.” 2003 was one of the worst years for wildland fire fatalities since 1996.

“Safety consciousness has been raised with such high-visibility incidents from the past few seasons, such as the 30-Mile Fire and the Cramer Fire,” Apicello said. “I think people are making better decisions. I also think that the statistics will show over time that the work capacity tests -- even though unfortunately there are one or two fatalities a year while the tests are administered -– [mean] overall less heart attacks for arduous duty firefighting.”

Last year, certain hazardous areas for wildland firefighting in the United States with steep terrain, like the Pacific Northwest and parts of Idaho, had a moderate fire season. Many fires in Alaska were allowed to burn in unpopulated areas, and many were in flat tundra-type terrain, he said.

2005 Outlook

The NIFC’s preliminary Wildland Fire Outlook for the 2005 fire season through August was for above-normal fire potential in the Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies, the lower elevations of the Great Basin and over much of Florida.

In March, mountain snowpacks were at near- or record-low levels in portions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Meanwhile, California, Colorado and the Southwest received heavy rain and snow from winter storms. “This will help moderate the fire season in the mountains but will increase the fire potential in the lower elevations of Nevada, Utah and the California deserts, due to heavier concentrations of fine fuels,” NIFC projected.

“Predicting the Alaska fire season is very difficult this early in the year. However, preliminary indications point to a less active fire season compared to last year’s record-breaking season.”