Injuries by type of duty As in past reports, type of duty is divided into five categories, including responding to or returning from an incident (including fire and non-fire emergencies); fireground (including structure fires, vehicle fires, brush fires, etc.), referring to all activities from the moment of arrival at the scene to departure time (e.g., setup, extinguishment, and overhaul); non-fire emergency (including rescue calls, hazardous calls such as spills, and natural disaster calls; training; and other on-duty activities (e.g., inspection or maintenance duties). Because fireground injuries are of particular concern from an occupational hazard perspective, we examined their causes, defined here as the initial circumstance leading to the injury. Conclusions As these statistics attest, firefighting presents risk of personal injury to firefighters, and because of the type of work they perform and the fire scene hazards they face, it is unlikely that all firefighter injuries can be eliminated. Since 1981, however, when firefighter injury data was first collected for this report, the overall trend is a decreasing number of firefighter injuries. By addressing priorities to further improve firefighter safety (see "Safety First," page 76), fire service organizations can make significant strides toward reducing the number and impact of such injuries, ě HYLTON J.O. HAYNES is senior research analyst and JOSEPH L. MOLIS is afire data assistant at NFPA. 34% Estimated Increase in exposures to hazardous conditions such as asbestos, radioactive materials, chemicals, and fumes in 2016 compared to 2015 Selected 2016 U.S. Firefighter Injury Incidents INJURED AFTER RUNNING OUT OF AIR The fire department received several phone calls for a multiple-family home on fire.