The specific objective of this study was to identify all of the on-duty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States in 1997, and to analyze the circumstances surrounding each occurrence. The study is intended to help identify approaches that could reduce the number of firefighter deaths in future years. In addition to the 1997 overall findings, this study includes special analyses on collisions involving vehicles operated by firefighters and fatalities that occurred when firefighters working at the scene of an emergency were struck and killed by civilian vehicles.