{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T18:07:38Z","timestamp":1785434858975,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,14]],"date-time":"2026-06-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781395200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012190","name":"Ministry of Science and Higher Education","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["01\u201330026\/0010494\/01\/322\/322\/0\/2026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01\u201330026\/0010494\/01\/322\/322\/0\/2026"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012190","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012190","name":"Ministry of Science and Higher Education","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["10026\/0010448\/01\/182\/182\/0\/2026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10026\/0010448\/01\/182\/182\/0\/2026"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012190","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["01\u201330026\/0010494\/01\/322\/322\/0\/2026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01\u201330026\/0010494\/01\/322\/322\/0\/2026"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05dwvd537","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["10026\/0010448\/01\/182\/182\/0\/2026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10026\/0010448\/01\/182\/182\/0\/2026"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05dwvd537","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Firefighting is a hazardous occupation, yet data online-of-duty deaths in European firefighter populations remain limited. This study aimed to characterise the mechanisms and circumstances of firefighter fatalities in Poland and to estimate exposure-based fatality rates, with particular attention to differences between career and volunteer personnel. Methods: In this retrospective observational study, line-of-duty firefighter fatalities in Poland from 1995 to 2025 were identified from a nationwide repository and cross-validated against official sources. The mechanism of death was classified from case narratives following the Utstein framework. Group comparisons used chi-square, Fisher\u2019s exact, and Welch\u2019s tests; multivariable probit regression assessed predictors of mechanism; and per-capita and per-deployment fatality rates were computed using national denominator data. Results: Of 112 fatalities, 73 (65.2%) involved volunteer firefighters. Sudden Cardiac Arrest of Presumed Non-Traumatic origin (SCA-PNT) was the leading mechanism (44.6%), followed by traumatic injury (37.5%). Volunteers were older than career firefighters (46.4 \u00b1 14.0 vs. 34.6 \u00b1 8.7 years; p &lt; 0.001) and more likely to die of SCA-PNT (odds ratio 6.35; 95% confidence interval 2.46\u201316.40) and during the response phase (odds ratio 5.07; 1.89\u201313.55). Age was the strongest independent predictor of mechanism. The per-capita fatality rate was higher among career firefighters (incidence rate ratio 5.16), whereas the per-deployment rate was higher among volunteers (incidence rate ratio 2.25). Conclusions: Firefighter mortality in Poland differs by employment status and is strongly age-dependent. Age-stratified cardiovascular surveillance and prevention may be more effective than formation-based approaches.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm15124616","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T08:57:58Z","timestamp":1781513878000},"page":"4616","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Line-of-Duty Deaths Among Firefighters in Poland: A Retrospective Observational Study of Mortality Differences Between Career and Volunteer Firefighters"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-1620-6046","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kamil","family":"Paj\u0105k","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Environmental Toxicology, Faculty of Health Sciences with the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-204 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcin","family":"Grucha\u0142a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Cardiology, University Clinical Center, Medical University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-214 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jakub","family":"Sobolewski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Cardiology, University Clinical Center, Medical University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-214 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7806-802X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrzej R.","family":"Reindl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Environmental Toxicology, Faculty of Health Sciences with the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-204 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gonzalez, D.E., Lanham, S.N., Martin, S.E., Cleveland, R.E., Wilson, T.E., Langford, E.L., and Abel, M.G. 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