Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report: Captain Suffers Heart Attack During Fire Suppression and Dies Two Days Later - Texas, FACE-F2015-04.

摘要

On February 19, 2015, a 56-year-old male career Captain was dispatched to a house fire. At the scene, the Captain and a fire fighter, both wearing full turnout gear and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), stretched a 1 3/4-inch hoseline to a window and sprayed water through the window's burglar bars. After another crew opened the burglar bars on the front door, the Captain and other fire fighters entered the house to continue fire suppression. After approximately 10 minutes, the Captain exited the house, remarking that he could not breathe and was having chest pains. After sitting on Ladder 46's bumper, he removed his SCBA and turnout gear. When moved to a stretcher, he became unresponsive, and lost his pulse and respirations. On scene ambulance paramedics provided advanced life support (cardiac monitoring, intravenous [IV] line placement, IV medications, and rescue airway) which continued en route to the local hospital's emergency department (ED). The ambulance arrived at the ED at 1945 hours where an acute heart attack with complications of cardiogenic shock was confirmed. Despite 24 hours of life support, the Captain suffered irreversible anoxic brain damage. In consultation with the family, life support was removed and the Captain died on February 21, 2015. The death certificate and autopsy report listed "complications of myocardial infarct [myocardial infarction] due to hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease" as the cause of death. The autopsy report also listed obesity and diabetes mellitus as contributory factors. Given the Captain's underlying and undiagnosed heart disease, NIOSH investigators concluded that the physical stress of his activities at the structure fire triggered his heart attack, which resulted in his cardiac death.