Over 62 000 firefighters were injured in action in the USA in 2016, an injury for nearly 3% of callouts, with nearly one third of injuries resulting in lost work time. This shows the high level of risk faced by firefighters in action.
Additionally, US fire fighters incurred nearly 10 000 exposures to infectious diseases and over 36 000 exposures to hazards such as asbestos, chemicals, radioactive materials or fumes. The injury rate in 2016 is however nearly 9% lower than in 2015, and is the lowest recorded (since 1981). The injury rate in fire services in larger cities is significantly higher (nearly 6% of firefighters injured annually) than in smaller communities, with this only partly explained by a higher ratio of fires / firefighters.
“US firefighter injuries in 2016”, NFPA Journal Nov-Dec. 2017 http://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications/NFPA-Journal/2017/November-December-2017/Features/US-Firefighter-Injuries-2016 and report online http://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Fire-statistics/The-fire-service/Fatalities-and-injuries/Firefighter-injuries-in-the-United-States