Who is a Firefighter?
For the purpose of the Firefighter Fatalities in the United States study, the term firefighter covers all members of organized fire departments with assigned fire suppression duties in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. It includes career and volunteer firefighters; full-time public safety officers acting as firefighters; fire police; state, territory, and federal government fire service personnel, including wildland firefighters; and privately employed firefighters, including employees of contract fire departments and trained members of industrial fire brigades, whether full- or part-time. It also includes contract personnel working as firefighters or assigned to work in direct support of fire service organizations (air-tanker crews). Under this definition, the study includes not only local and municipal firefighters but also seasonal and full-time
