Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report: Reserve Fire Fighter Suffers Sudden Cardiac Death While Working on a Fuel Reduction Crew in Arizona

摘要

On June 19, 2004, a 39-year-old male reserve (volunteer) Fire Fighter (FF) assisted in forest fuel load reduction near a residential area. After about 6 hours of carrying and feeding trees and branches into a wood chipper, the FF suddenly collapsed. Crew members noitified 911, who dispatched an ambulance and the fire department (FD) to the area. Despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) on-scene, in the ambulance, and in the local hospital's emergency department (ED), the FF died. The death certificate, completed by the Medical Examiner, and the autopsy, completed by the Forensic Pathologist, listed 'atherosclerotic heart disease' as the cause of death. The NIOSH investigator concluded that the FF's sudden cardiac death was due to his underlying atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) possibly triggered by the physical exertion associated with chipping the wood and carrying the tree branches.