Study of Emergent Health and Safety Issues of the Volunteer Fire Service

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The United States Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) recently partnered to study emergent issues related to firefighter occupational health and safety occurring in the volunteer fire service and to develop initiatives, programs, and strategies with the aim of reducing firefighter fatalities among volunteers.

According to the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) U.S. Fire Department Profile through 2006, there are an estimated 823,950 volunteer firefighters in the United States. In addition, 70 percent of the fire departments in the U.S. are all volunteer and nearly 17 percent are mostly volunteer, representing the vast majority of fire departments who are dependent on volunteer firefighters.

The volunteer fire service has distinct issues related to health and safety such as time commitment availability, long distances away from training facilities, the use of older equipment, rural operations, declining number of volunteers, and the wide age range of volunteer firefighters. As a result of these issues, USFA and NVFC developed the Emerging Health and Safety Issues in the Volunteer Fire Service report which discusses effective safety and health programs to support the volunteer fire service.

This initiative with NVFC to enhance health and safety in the volunteer fire service also supports the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation's Firefighter Life Safety Initiative and the NVFC Heart Healthy Firefighter Program to mitigate on-duty firefighter fatalities.