Table 2.
Firefighting experience of active female firefighter survey respondents in the US and Canada, by injury severity as measured by time of work lost.
| Entire sample (n = 1,160) |
All injuries (n = 742) |
No injuries (n = 418) |
<2 weeks work losta (n = 494) | 2–4 weeks work lost (n = 106) | >4 weeks work lost (n = 285) |
Life threatening (n = 15) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Median (Q1, Q3) |
Median (Q1, Q3) |
Median (Q1, Q3) |
Median (Q1, Q3) | Median (Q1, Q3) | Median (Q1, Q3) | Median (Q1, Q3) | |
| Years in fire service | 13 (5, 20) | 16 (9, 22) | 7 (3, 15) | 15 (7, 21) | 19 (12, 24) | 19 (12, 24) | 28 (21, 32) |
| Estimated career firesb | 40 (15, 100) | 50 (20, 200) | 20 (8, 50) | 50 (20, 150) | 80 (30, 200) | 80 (25, 200) | 200 (80, 600) |
| Estimated toxic exposuresb | 5 (1, 20) | 10 (2, 30) | 3 (0, 10) | 10 (2, 25) | 10 (2, 50) | 10 (2, 50) | 25 (10, 200) |
| N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | |
| Department | |||||||
| Career | 824 (71) | 569 (77) | 255 (61) | 377 (76) | 86 (81) | 225 (79) | 13 (87) |
| Career/volunteer | 220 (19) | 137 (18) | 83 (20) | 91 (18) | 15 (14) | 51 (18) | 0 (0) |
| Volunteer | 83 (7) | 27 (4) | 56 (13) | 19 (4) | * | 7 (2) | * |
| Other | 33 (3) | 9 (1) | 24 (6) | 7 (1) | * | * | 0 (0) |
| Most recent rank c | |||||||
| Firefighter | 757 (65) | 435 (59) | 322 (77) | 300 (61) | 56 (53) | 141 (49) | * |
| Paramedic | 270 (23) | 201 (27) | 69 (17) | 129 (26) | 37 (35) | 83 (29) | * |
| Company/Station officer | 231 (20) | 179 (24) | 52 (12) | 121 (24) | 33 (31) | 93 (33) | 9 (60) |
| Driver/Engineer | 191 (16) | 142 (19) | 49 (12) | 92 (19) | 22 (21) | 58 (20) | * |
| EMT | 188 (16) | 100 (13) | 88 (21) | 72 (15) | 7 (7) | 34 (12) | * |
| Chief officer/Superintendent | 81 (7) | 59 (8) | 22 (5) | 37 (7) | 7 (7) | 21 (7) | * |
| Master technician | 8 (1) | 8 (1) | 0 (0) | 6 (1) | * | * | 0 (0) |
| Other | 95 (8) | 54 (7) | 41 (10) | 33 (7) | 12 (11) | 18 (6) | * |
| Most recent assignment | |||||||
| Engine | 615 (53) | 392 (53) | 223 (53) | 265 (54) | 56 (53) | 149 (52) | 5 (33) |
| Truck (Ladder/Aerial) | 98 (8) | 63 (8) | 35 (8) | 42 (9) | 8 (8) | 20 (7) | * |
| EMS unit (Ambulance) | 97 (8) | 66 (9) | 31 (7) | 40 (8) | 6 (6) | 28 (10) | 0 (0) |
| Special operations/Rescue | 43 (4) | 24 (3) | 19 (5) | 19 (4) | * | 7 (2) | 0 (0) |
| HazMat unit | 14 (1) | 9 (1) | 5 (1) | 5 (1) | * | * | * |
| Other | 291 (25) | 188 (25) | 103 (25) | 123 (25) | 32 (30) | 78 (27) | 8 (53) |
| Took leave of absence | 327 (28) | 236 (32) | 91 (22) | 151 (31) | 34 (32) | 106 (37) | 7 (47) |
a
Includes injuries that were reported only, received first aid only, treated by a doctor only, and those that missed <2 weeks of work.
b
Responses over 16,000 were excluded.
c
Questions in which participants could select multiple answers.
*
Fewer than 5 respondents.