Author Description

This report updates the 1999 report, "Wildland Fire Fatalities in the United States: 1990-1998" (9951-2808-MTDC). From 1990 to 2006, 310 persons died during wildland fire operations. The number of fatalities each year increased 26 percent from the initial period (1990 to 1998, 15.2 fatalities per year) to the most recent period (1999 to 2006, 21.6 fatalities per year). Burnovers were the leading cause of death during the initial period. During the most recent period, the leading causes of death were aircraft accidents, vehicle accidents, and heart attacks. Mangan proposes four new "21st-Century Common Denominators of Wildland Firefighter Fatalities" to supplement the original four "Common Denominators of Fire Behavior on Tragedy Fires" identified during the 1970s by fire researcher Carl Wilson.