Burn Injury Fire Fighter Tracking

Following a burn injury, fire fighters are at risk of developing psychological trauma associated with the events of the injury, a lack of confidence in their professional abilities, and stress related to the time away from the job. As a result of a burn, an injured fire fighter must deal with the emotional, physical and financial challenges of recovery and a potentially career-ending injury.

The International Association of Fire fighters in partnership with the American Burn Association is conducting a survey to track fire ground related burn injuries among fire fighters in North America. This survey is completely voluntary and confidential. We would like to encourage you to participate in the survey by answering the survey questions and submitting it back to your burn center for submission to the ABA and IAFF. The information collected in this survey will be used to characterize safety issues in the fire service and develop injury prevention strategies. Currently, fire fighter injuries are not well tracked in the United States, particularly when it comes to severity of injury and clinical outcomes.

Our goal is to better understand the total number of fire fighter burn injuries in North America, where they are occurring, how they are occurring, costs associated with treatment, lost revenue from disability, and to determine if, among other things, improperly worn PPE is contributing to injury. Going forward, the information collected will be used to compile an annual report of fire fighter burn injuries in North America. After determining the scope of the problem, we will be able to develop strategies to help to prevent injury through education.

We encourage your burn center to participate in this project by requesting fire fighters receiving treatment at your facility to complete the attached survey. We suggest that the fire fighter be given the survey following discharge from your facility or while being seen in burn clinic.

Download the Burn Injury Survey

Completed surveys should be returned to:

This project is funded by FEMA’s Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Program.