Line of duty death


A line of duty death is a death in the fire service or the police service while on duty at an emergency or drill. On average, there are more than 100 LODDs in the United States per year. When a fire department loses a member in a LODD, it will commonly fly its flag at half-staff, and members will cover their badges with a mourning band. The New York City Fire Department has a tradition of announcing deaths with four series of five bells.

Statistics

All statistics
While the complexity of firefighting is increasing, due to everything from cars to chemicals, the number of LODDs is trending downward, as the 1980-2015 mortality chart below illustrates. This declining firefighting death rate is particularly noteworthy considering the fact that from 1980 to 2015 our country's population grew from 236,542,000 to 321,419,000 – a 36% increase. Doubtless, a similar growth occurred in the number of our country's structures – and the size of our firefighter cadre. Yet during this timeframe, the number of annual firefighter deaths in 2015 is half the number who died in 1980.
Another factor is that a large number of LODDs – motor vehicle collisions – are preventable.

L.O.D. Deaths present–1980

** The 2001 figure includes the 343 FDNY firefighters who were killed in the line of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.