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The number of on-duty firefighter deaths across the country is at a 40-year low. Sixty firefighters died on-the-job last year. Flames or collapsing buildings were not the most common cause of deaths. The leading cause of deaths among firefighters was heart attacks The National Fire Protection Association just released its annual fatalities report.
Berryhill Fire Department, which has never lost a firefighter on duty, built a station that reduces some of the common stressors firefighters face.
Hall says his department worked with an architect for more than a year to design a low-stress station, like installing a slide instead of a pole.
“This is better on knees, and backs, and necks and nobody falls two stories,” he said.
They also have a smart screen designed to be easier on the eyes, especially when rushing out of bed in the middle of the night. The screen will show different colors for different call types – red is for fires – and the quickest route will be shown in blue.
“It will give us a different color so that we have the initial knowledge in our brain to go to that, that set of memories,” said Hall.
There’s a room for crews to decontaminate after a call. They also check each other’s health often.
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