NFPA Breaking News Alert

QUINCY, Mass., July 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Nineteen firefighters were killed battling the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona, according to the Prescott Fire Department. NFPA records indicate this is the deadliest incident for firefighters since September 11, 2001 and the third highest firefighter death toll among wildland fires. The 1910 Devil's Broom wildfire in Silverton, Idaho killed 86 firefighters and the 1933 Griffith Park blaze in Los Angeles killed 29.

NFPA offers its sincere condolences to the families of the fallen firefighters, to the Prescott Fire Department, and the entire community for the loss of these heroes.

In recent years, firefighter fatalities have been declining. NFPA recently released its annual Firefighter Fatality Report that showed there were 64 firefighter on-duty deaths in 2012, the second lowest in 35 years. For the past four years, the annual total has been well below 100, dropping the annual average over the past 10 years to 88 deaths.

NFPA offers a number of resources for media covering this developing story:

• Expert interviews regarding general wildfire prevention, community activities, firefighting aspects and statistical data
  • Dave Nuss, manager of NFPA's Wildland Fire Division
  • Ken Willette, manager of NFPA's Public Fire Protection Division
• Information resources and articles, including:
  • Deadliest incidents resulting in deaths of eight or more firefighters
  • Firefighter fatalities in the United States
  • NFPA news release: Arizona wildfire raises concern for community safety (June 21, 2013)
  • NFPA Journal^®: Big wildfires frequently present organizational and tactical challenges for the fire service. It's in the wildland-urban interface, though, where things get really complicated.
  • NFPA Journal^®: September 2011 issue of NFPA Journal, devoted to the topic of wildland fire.
  • Fire Adapted Communities, a community-wide approach to wildland fire preparedness

About the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
NFPA is a worldwide leader in fire, electrical, building, and life safety. The mission of the international nonprofit organization founded in 1896 is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education. NFPA develops more than 300 codes and standards to minimize the possibility and effects of fire and other hazards. All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed at no cost at www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.

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SOURCE National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)