Supporting Local Heroes

Becoming a firefighter is one of the most rewarding careers one can have. But, with a lot of reward, comes a lot of risk. If you’re interested in starting a career in firefighting, or if you are already employed in that field, you might be interested in reviewing a few top firefighter statistics. Although firefighting can be dangerous and the hours are long and erratic, it’s one of the most rewarding careers you can choose. By becoming either a career firefighter or a volunteer, you’re making a valuable contribution to your community and to society at large.

Stay Informed

You can support your local fire department by becoming aware and informed. Every year, U.S. firefighters sustain an average of nearly 90 line-of-duty deaths, over 1,000 serious or life-threatening injuries, and 19,000 exposures to hazardous substances.

Firefighters put their lives at risk on a daily basis and we want to give back and say thank you to those who are willing to risk their lives for all of our safety. We want to honor and remember our fallen heroes, banding together, showing our support through awareness wristbands.

Top Firefighter Statistics

• In 2014, a total of 64 firefighters died while on-duty in the US, a significant decrease from the 97 deaths that occurred in 2013, when three incidents alone claimed a total of 32 lives. The largest share of deaths occurred at the fire scenes (22 deaths). As in most recent years, sudden cardiac death accounted for the largest share of the on-duty deaths (36 deaths, or 56 percent). According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there was approximately 87 firefighter fatalities in 2015.
• Based on data the NFPA received from fire department responding to the 2014 National Fire Experience Survey, the NFPA estimates that 63,350 firefighter injuries occurred in the line of duty in 2014.
• Volunteer firefighters predominantly protect communities with 10,000 population or less. On average during the period 2011 to 2013 injuries by type of duty, volunteers (52.3%) were more likely to receive injuries at the fire ground that all firefighters combined (42.4%), and volunteers (12.5%) were less apt to be injured at non-fire emergencies than for all firefighters (20.7%).
• The NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) estimates there were approximately 1,140,750 local firefighters in the U.S. in 2013. Of the number of firefighters 354,600 (31%) were career firefighters and 786,150 (69%) were volunteer firefighters.

Raising Awareness

If we can create more awareness for our fallen fire heroes, we can provide more assistance and resources for survivors, rebuilding their lives and work within the fire community. Creating more awareness will not only honor fallen firefighters, but will also reduce active firefighter deaths and injuries. Here are a few resources that you can personally get involved in and help raise awareness!

Be a Hero, Save a Hero

Be a Hero, Save a Hero® is a community risk reduction program with the goal of helping to keep you, your family and your local firefighters safe. Everyone plays a role in a community’s safety and the public can help their local firefighters by participating in Be a Hero, Save a Hero®.

Everyone Goes Home

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Everyone Goes Home® program provides free training and resources to champion and implement the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives. The goal of the program is to reduce the number of preventable firefighter line-of-duty injuries and deaths.

Volunteering

Getting involved with a volunteer fire department is an incredibly rewarding way to make a positive contribution to your community. And it is often a stepping stone to starting a career on a full-time fire department.

You’ll be expected to keep a clear head in life-or-death situations and maintain your composure when assisting traumatic events like auto crash injuries and fatalities without becoming disabled by stress.

Physical Condition:

You must also commit to staying in great physical condition to maintain the stamina to perform the necessary firefighting tasks. Eat right, exercise and reduce or eliminate habits that can adversely affect your health, like tobacco and alcohol use.

Application Process:

The first step in becoming a part of your local volunteer fire department is to make contact with them to see if they need additional volunteers. Not all communities have volunteer fire departments. If yours doesn’t, you can probably find another one nearby that does.

Once you’ve found the right volunteer fire department, you’ll need to find out their requirements for service to see if you qualify. The standards vary widely, but they all have a minimum age requirement. Many will do a background check to see if you have anything in your history that would prevent you from becoming a volunteer firefighter. Expect to be required to be cleared by a doctor or pass a physical ability test, some departments require both.

Awareness Through Appreciation

Here at ReadyWristbands.com, we cannot say thank you enough to all of the hard working career and volunteer firefighters located all around the world. Spreading firefighter awareness through custom wristbands is an opportunity where the world’s community can recognize and honor the sacrifices that firefighters make to ensure that their communities and environment are as safe as possible. It is also an opportunity where current and past firefighters can be thanked for their contributions.