# How dangerous is a firefighters job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119 "2002-11-27T15:45:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/1 "2002-11-27T15:45:42Z")
I ask because one of the reasons trotted out by the firefighters striking here for a 40% pay job is that they are risking their lives every day. Ignoring the twin towers disaster as it seems a unique one off event, the only study I can find on the net [http://www.canoshweb.org/odp/html/APR1992.htm](http://www.canoshweb.org/odp/html/APR1992.htm) suggests that firefighters actually have very low risk of death and are healthier than the general population. Any firemen out there can fill me in? Also would be interested to know what a fireman earns in the US for comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/2 "2002-11-27T16:00:00Z")
Tell you what, scm. Next time you see a building on fire, you rush on in and extinguish it. Report back to us on how dangerous that was. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/3 "2002-11-27T16:14:17Z")
I found [this link](http://www.nfpa.org/PDF/FFF2001.pdf?src=nfpa&MSCSProfile=61E4CECF7275066FD87B9817DA5865CBE31F4172CA48FC6300120F7C536521EB048C9EA937CD3A797BFAB9DFA108F65E2510B798F2CBE888DC3DB0CC103144B1F0D00F899517C014438C34549771CDA7E6631AFA46B72BAA382A90ABE9D453E7E4637098AA07E50BAB70C626E5E5B64CFE9FB7B7AD7994D9B9231AAB71BC72991BBA36FDE25F00B3) (PDF format) at the [National Fire Protection Association](http://www.nfpa.org/Research/OneStopDataShop/Reports/Firefighters/Firefighters.asp) that seems to have some interesting data. On teh whole it doesn’t seem as if all that many firefighters die in the course of duties (percentage wise…of course one is one too many). I guess you’d have to figure the chance of injury being a firefighter versus doing a different job to get the real picture though. I did find it interesting that volunteer firefighters have nearly three times the casualty rate as professional firefighters. If there is ever a claim that better training saves lives that would be it. As to the World Trade Center the article I linked mentioned the following (they also ignore it in their statistics because, as **scm1001** mentioned it would seriosuly skew the numbers). > [@](#): > > On September 11, 2001, the fire department of New York City suffered the most catastrophic loss of firefighters in U.S. history, when 340 firefighters, two paramedics and a chaplain were killed in the collapses of the twin towers at the World Trade Center. > > The death toll in that one incident eclipses the 99 firefighter fatalities that occurred in all other on-duty circumstances throughout the U.S. in 2001. More firefighters were killed on September 11th than died at structure fires over the previous 11 years. More full-time, career firefighters were killed in one day than were killed on-duty over the previous 20 years. > > The actions of the firefighters killed that day will be chronicled elsewhere, in the fire service and general press. This article will focus on the non-World Trade Center fatalities, not with the intention of minimizing those losses, but rather to remind us of the types of fatal situations that occur each year. > > SOURCE: [NFPA](http://www.nfpa.org/PDF/FFF2001.pdf?src=nfpa&MSCSProfile=61E4CECF7275066FD87B9817DA5865CBE31F4172CA48FC6300120F7C536521EB048C9EA937CD3A797BFAB9DFA108F65E2510B798F2CBE888DC3DB0CC103144B1F0D00F899517C014438C34549771CDA7E6631AFA46B72BAA382A90ABE9D453E7E4637098AA07E50BAB70C626E5E5B64CFE9FB7B7AD7994D9B9231AAB71BC72991BBA36FDE25F00B3) (PDF file) Still, there is no question that running into burning buildings is an inherently dangerous business. That casualties are low is more a testament to training and equipment than it is to their job function (at least so it seem to me). Of course, with states and cities facing budget crises that they haven’t faced in decades I’m not sure where the firefighters think the money will come from. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/4 "2002-11-27T16:20:06Z")
A firefighter told me that one of the things that takes a toll on firefighter’s health is the way they have to go from relaxation to adrenaline rush with no warning and no warmup. When the bell goes off, they are ON. That’s not a “life-risking” issue, however–more like a long-term thing and I don’t have a cite for it. Perhaps their argument should be not that they are risking their lives each day, but that they are saving lives and property every day. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/5 "2002-11-27T16:23:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*Tell you what, scm. Next time you see a building on fire, you rush on in and extinguish it. Report back to us on how dangerous that was. \*\* One of the reasons that has been given for the need to modernise the UK fire service is that firemen _don’t_ spend most of their time rushing into burning buildings to rescue people. I have no cites at the moment, but I shall try to find the report I read. Anyhow, the gist of it was this: 1. Fires in general account for a relatively low percentage of call-outs for most fire-fighters. Road accidents take up a huge amount of their time (ie.e chopping people out of wreckage), and although this is a vital service it’s not as risky as putting out fires. 2. Where they do attend a fire, the majority of cases involve either commercial property (where there are fewer people at risk inside the building) or abandoned cars that have been set alight etc. In these cases there is often no need to get particularly close to the fire. I know there are exceptions, and I shall do my best to get some figures for you, but there are serious suggestions over here that the ‘fire-service’ should in fact be re-named to something along the lines of "emergency-service’ as that is a more accurate reflection of what they get up to. Personally I think the firemen do a top job - my girlfriend would not be alive today were it not for an off-duty fireman who ‘rushed inside a burning building’ to rescue her when she was a baby, but it is perhaps disingenuous to claim that they should receive more money because the job is inherently more dangerous. As **scm** implies, there are other public sector jobs which have a high incidence of death and injury to personel. ---
**Author:** ![X-Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/90db22/32.png) [@X-Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X-Khan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/6 "2002-11-27T16:24:53Z")
**\> Tell you what, scm. Next time you see a building on fire, you rush on in and extinguish it. Report back to us on how dangerous that was.** I think he was asking about how many firefighters die each year, or somehting to that effect, right? I’ve heard, from numerous firefighters and the media, that about 100 firefighters die each year. Now, how dangerous that makes the job? Well, about 98,000 Americans die as a result of medical error each year (“Preventing Unfair Prosecution of Abortion Providers”, Phyllida Burlingame, [www.aclunc.org](http://www.aclunc.org)). What does that say? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/7 "2002-11-27T16:41:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by X-Khan \* > \*\ ***\> Tell you what, scm. Next time you see a building on fire, you rush on in and extinguish it. Report back to us on how dangerous that was.** > > I think he was asking about how many firefighters die each year, or somehting to that effect, right? > I’ve heard, from numerous firefighters and the media, that about 100 firefighters die each year. Now, how dangerous that makes the job? Well, about 98,000 Americans die as a result of medical error each year (“Preventing Unfair Prosecution of Abortion Providers”, Phyllida Burlingame, [www.aclunc.org](http://www.aclunc.org)). What does that say? \*\* According to [this site](http://www.writer-tech.com/pages/articles/ff-fatalities.htm): > [@](#): > > In 1997, the most current year that there are statistics available from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), **94 fire fighters lost their lives.** This is a continuing downward trend that has been occurring over the past 20 years, with a high of 171 deaths in 1978, to a low of 75 in 1992. Except for 1994, where there were 104 fatalities, the number of fire fighters killed has been under 100 for the past five years. They are US figures, and it doesn’t say what percentage of fire-fighters that represents, so it’s hard to draw many conclusions from it… I woud WAG that there would be more deaths among public sector construction workers but without figures it’s hard to compare… ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/8 "2002-11-27T16:42:56Z")
US Statistics for work-related deaths can be viewed [here.](http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm) (PDF format links) Similar link for the UK figures[here.](http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overpic.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/9 "2002-11-27T16:50:43Z")
The real point that the firefighters are making is not that the job is dangerous in a statistical “look how many of us died” sense; with good training and equipment, that number isn’t all that large. The point is that unlike other dangerous jobs, firefighting sometimes requires **voluntarily going into harm’s way and working under conditions that normal people run away from**. Even people like salmon fishermen and ironworkers, whose jobs involve a greater likelihood of death. It’s not that firefighters have to run into burning buildings all that often, it’s that they WILL. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/10 "2002-11-27T16:57:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scm1001 \* > \*\*Also would be interested to know what a fireman earns in the US for comparison. \*\* There was a discussion of it in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=143865). ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/11 "2002-11-27T17:38:11Z")
It seems hard to get a real comparison as most sites just give total numbers. However given that there are about 240,000 firefighters (60 death/y due to accidents) and 1,700,000 farmworkers (about 1,400 work death accidents), farming is about 4 times more dangerous. (figures from [http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/97-114.html](http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/97-114.html) and [http://almis.dws.state.ut.us/occ/projections.asp?page=About](http://almis.dws.state.ut.us/occ/projections.asp?page=About) ) ---
**Author:** ![X-Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/90db22/32.png) [@X-Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X-Khan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/12 "2002-11-27T19:18:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quirm \* > \*\*According to [this site](http://www.writer-tech.com/pages/articles/ff-fatalities.htm): > > They are US figures, and it doesn’t say what percentage of fire-fighters that represents, so it’s hard to draw many conclusions from it… I woud WAG that there would be more deaths among public sector construction workers but without figures it’s hard to compare… \*\* I’m assuming that all firefighters have to register with someone somehow (National Fire Protection Association?), and consequentally, the number of work-related firefighter deaths in the US each year really can’t be that hard to count, I think good records of such things are kept, so, I would assume that represents the nation. ---
**Author:** ![X-Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/90db22/32.png) [@X-Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X-Khan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/13 "2002-11-27T20:39:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > \*\*The real point that the firefighters are making is not that the job is dangerous in a statistical “look how many of us died” sense; with good training and equipment, that number isn’t all that large. The point is that unlike other dangerous jobs, firefighting sometimes requires **voluntarily going into harm’s way and working under conditions that normal people run away from**. Even people like salmon fishermen and ironworkers, whose jobs involve a greater likelihood of death. It’s not that firefighters have to run into burning buildings all that often, it’s that they WILL. \*\* If someone does something as a profession, they will do it. An ironworker or a fisherman WILL expose themselves to dangerous and potentially fatal situations multiple times EVERY DAY. Firefighters WILL wash the truck, appear at schools, respond to false calls, etc on most days, and if a dangerous situation arrises, they will expose themselves to it. So if you are comparing the danger levels of different prorfessions (as was the original question, i believe, “How dangerous is a firefighters job?”), there would be many more than you might think above firefighters on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/14 "2002-11-27T21:16:09Z")
Just this morning, I had to wrestle a snarlingly rabid SQL server to the ground. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/15 "2002-11-27T21:52:27Z")
Perhaps I have a tainted view on this topic, but I’ll toss my hat into the ring anyways. Hopefully this doesn’t get booted over to GD. Although we shout from the rooftops that “firefighting is the worlds most dangerous profession,” it isn’t. Roofers and commercial fishermen hold that title. However, it isn’t a piece of cake job, either. Think, for a moment, what events prompt a call to the fire department. Something has gone wrong, you can’t fix it on your own, so you call. Regardless of time of day, weather, or what show is on tv right now, help will be sent to you. It will be there within minutes, and the problem will be taken care of. Roofers don’t work on ice covered roofs. I do (and have a number of times). Road workers don’t work on interstate highways in inclement weather, I do (just so happens the nasty accidents happen when the weather is bad, go figure). Its 2am and your stomach doesn’t feel good, we come and assist you. Truck is leaking methyl-ethyl bad stuff, we’ll stop the leak and contain the product. Fire pushing out of a building, we’ll put it out. Any time. Roofers can say “nope, too windy today” and not go to work. Sure they’ll lose money, but they can fit in the job later. Fishermen can say “nope, hurricane warning, not going fishing today” and go back to port. We don’t have that luxury (neither do the police, for that matter). Is the job dangerous? Yeah, it can be. If you delve into the statistics, you’ll see that half of the firefighter fatalities in any given year are from heart attacks. The jury is still out figuring out what causes them, either the bad food, the get-up-and-go-right-nowness of a call, lack of exercise, or a combination of all of them. That leaves around 50 or so deaths from other causes, be it vehicular accidents, structural collapses, burns, gear failure, or what have you. Thats fatalities, though. We didn’t say we’re dying all the time. What does constitute dangerousness in this career is injuries. Over the course of their careers, on average, something like 80% firefighters will sustain a significant loss of time accident. That covers the overexertion, falls, slips/trips, smoke inhalation, vehicular accidents, assaults, etc. Are there more dangerous jobs, sure. I wouldn’t write off firefighting as an easy career by any means, though. > [@](#): > > I did find it interesting that volunteer firefighters have nearly three times the casualty rate as professional firefighters. If there is ever a claim that better training saves lives that would be it. Hold on here… 1. There are about 1.5 million firefighters in the US. Around 450,000 of them are paid. That accounts for the number of volunteer vs paid deaths. 2. Most firefighters are professionals, the difference is whether they are paid or not. Big sore spot in the fire service. 3. A career department that I am very friendly with has not trained in over 2 years on anything fire related. Less than 3 miles away is a volunteer department (also with whom I’m very friendly with) that trains once a week on fire related topics. This isn’t anecdotal by any means. Pay status does not a “real” firefighter make. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/16 "2002-11-27T21:58:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > \*\*Just this morning, I had to wrestle a snarlingly rabid SQL server to the ground. \*\* Been there done that and let me tell you that is indeed a dangerous job. It’s not so much the server itself that is dangerous. It’s the horde of furious users with pitchforks seeking your head that you have to watch out for. Fortunately my server room is locked and if they get through that I setoff the Halon extinguishers to knock them all out. Sorry for the hijack… ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/17 "2002-11-27T22:11:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KCB615 \* > \*\*Hold on here… > > 1. There are about 1.5 million firefighters in the US. Around 450,000 of them are paid. That accounts for the number of volunteer vs paid deaths. > 2. Most firefighters are professionals, the difference is whether they are paid or not. Big sore spot in the fire service. > 3. A career department that I am very friendly with has not trained in over 2 years on anything fire related. Less than 3 miles away is a volunteer department (also with whom I’m very friendly with) that trains once a week on fire related topics. This isn’t anecdotal by any means. Pay status does not a “real” firefighter make. \*\* 1. Geez!!! Two-thirds of all firefighters are _unpaid_? Good grief…that’s awful! I would have thought it’d be the other way around but it does indeed explain the higher casualty rate (seemingly almost spot on with paid firefighters). 2. I didn’t mean to imply that unpaid firefighters were necessarily unprofessional. I just thought ‘professional’ implied getting paid to do whatever it is you do. Guess I need to re-read Websters (\*just did…I was ok in my usage). 3. That’s really lousy. Paid or unpaid I would hope there was regular training for firefighters. Both for their benefit AND my benefit. This suggests there is nothing new to learn once you’re a firefighter which I doubt is the case. New equipment, new methodologies and so on I would assume are being thought-up all the time. How does that info get disseminated to the field? [sub]From [Merriam-Websters Online:](http://www.m-w.com) Professional: 2 a : participating for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by amateurs \ b : having a particular profession as a permanent career \ c : engaged in by persons receiving financial return \ [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/18 "2002-11-27T22:39:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KCB615 \* > Think, for a moment, what events prompt a call to the fire department. Something has gone wrong, you can’t fix it on your own, so you call. Regardless of time of day, weather, or what show is on tv right now, help will be sent to you. It will be there within minutes, and the problem will be taken care of. If I may add … There is also a very improvisational aspect of the job. You never know what you will face and how to prepare for it. You will have to rig up ways to hoist/move heavy objects, do heavy work with both hands on a ladder 20 feet off the ground, oh yeah in the middle of a blizzard. Work on car accident scenes where the reason for the accident was driving too fast with less than 100 ft of visibility. I worked on a multicasualty car accident scene where 2 parked ambulances were hit by cars who were not aware of the accident ahead. On top of all this , someones life can be depending on your prompt arrival. You sometimes live in a state of making judgement calls between risking your own safety vs allowing a patient to suffer further injury or die (no pressure yeah). In reality yes firefighters spend the majority of their time doing other things, servicing hydrants, maintaining equipment, doing low risk commercial fire inspections, removing cats from trees, playing ping pong, etc. When the bell rings its all business, on an actual fire scene, you will be putting 110% for the next 15-20 minutes until the fire is contained. Heavy work, limited air supply, and heat add up to make for a world of hurt waiting to happen. You will come away from a fire, sore, tired, and probably a little scorched around the edges. Its not uncommon to have small light burns around seams in your protective gear. Even in your gear you can still get cooked pretty good. Opening up a hose at 100 gallons per minute into a room that is totally involved generates steam like you would not believe. You get a crash course on what a crab feels like geting steamed. So you may not get killed in any given day, but its not unknown to be needing a couple days to recover from the last day at work. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/19 "2002-11-27T22:58:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Whack-a-Mole \* > 3) That’s really lousy. Paid or unpaid I would hope there was regular training for firefighters. Amazing how some people are willing to take on such a dangerous responsibility for little if any compensation. Those of you who live in volunteer covered areas should consider that when your town wants money to buy them new gear, they are not asking for a raise, just better tools to help them help you. > [@](#): > > This suggests there is nothing new to learn once you’re a firefighter which I doubt is the case. New equipment, new methodologies and so on I would assume are being thought-up all the time. How does that info get disseminated to the field? There are probably at least 30-40 subspecialties in fire service, prevention, training, investigation, hazmat, heavy rescue, command, etc. plus wildland and urban variations for each specialty. There are magazines and seminars that can be attended to learn newer techniques and equipment. Manufacturers will often do demonstartions and or train departments on how to use their tools. One of the other hard parts for volunteers is that since they are not paid for their duties, scheduling time when all can attend is difficult. They still have jobs and families to attend to. ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119/20 "2002-11-27T23:03:44Z")
Just to add some Australian statistics to the mix, [here’s](http://www.nohsc.gov.au/Pdf/Statistics/wrtfsum.pdf) a study on workplace deaths in Australia (few years old now) that provides the following statistics: The industries with the highest rates of working deaths were: 1 forestry and logging - 93 deaths per 100,000 persons per year; 2 fishing and hunting - 86 deaths per 100,000 persons per year; 3 mining - 36 deaths per 100,000 persons per year; 4 transport and storage - 23 deaths per 100,000 persons per year; 5 agriculture - 20 deaths per 100,000 persons per year; and 6 construction - 10 deaths per 100,000 persons per year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-a-firefighters-job/139119.md?page=2)