On August 9, 2010, a tragic incident occurred in Chicago when Fire Fighter/Paramedic Christopher Wheatley lost his life while responding to a commercial fire. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has now released its detailed report on this Line of Duty Death (LODD), shedding light on the circumstances that led to the fatal fall.
According to the NIOSH report, FF/PM Wheatley, a 31-year-old career firefighter, was part of a team responding to an alarm at a four-story mixed-use building. Upon arrival at 12:31 AM, firefighters noticed sparks coming from the top of the roof near an external exhaust duct connected to a restaurant on the ground floor. In an attempt to reach the roof, the victim and three other firefighters used an exterior fire escape. At the fourth-floor landing, Wheatley began climbing a vertical ladder while carrying a 63-pound hand pump in his right hand, with another firefighter providing support from below. However, as he moved out of reach, he lost his grip and fell 53 feet onto the pavement. He was later pronounced dead at the local hospital.
The report outlines several contributing factors to the incident. One key issue was the decision to use a fire escape rather than a safer method like an aerial ladder or interior stairway. Additionally, the victim's inability to maintain contact with the vertical portion of the fire escape was attributed to the weight of the hand pump he was carrying.
In response, NIOSH has issued several critical recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future. These include developing and enforcing standard operating guidelines for the use of fire escapes, implementing strict accountability at the tactical level, ensuring rigorous training for roof operations and ladder climbing, and improving procedures for safely carrying equipment during elevation work. The report also calls for a review of fire prevention inspection processes, particularly for high-risk occupancies such as restaurants, with greater involvement from operational crews.
The full NIOSH report is available [here](#). For more information, you can read the related article from the *Chicago Tribune* [here](#).
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