In addition to firefighting, municipal water supply was a prominent topic in the editorial and advertising pages of Fire & Water Engineering, the predecessor to Fire Engineering. The then weekly publication's editorial page noted the reduction in typhoid deaths in Cincinnati, Ohio, since the opening of that city's water filtration plant; the impact of a dry spell on the wildfire hazard in the western United States forests; and water pollution in New York's Hudson River. Fire & Water regularly featured articles on waterworks construction nationwide.

Mike McEvoy, Fire Engineering's EMS technical editor, says water purification and antibiotics have virtually eliminated typhoid fever: The 1910 typhoid death rate was 90 percent; now it is less than one percent. While water tends to be cleaner today, some firefighters still do not fully appreciate the potentially deadly health consequences of exposure to contaminated water. For example, McEvoy says, consider the line-of-duty death of Fire Police Captain John Brenckle. He died on September 23, 2004, of necrotizing faciitis (flesh-eating staph bacteria), to which he had been exposed between September 17 and 19. Among other duties, he had directed traffic while standing in chemical- and sewage-contaminated floodwaters with an open, uncovered wound on his leg.

McEvoy emphasizes that any open wound must always be covered while on duty--no exceptions. A firefighter with an open wound cannot wade, swim, or submerge the wounded extremity in any floodwaters (including basement floods), river water, stream water, or any other body of water that could potentially be contaminated. The risks are too great. Although prevention is the best post-exposure treatment, should a firefighter with bandaged wound tumble into a body of water, he should immediately remove the bandage, wash the wound with soap and (clean) water, and then rebandage it. The risks of infection are extremely high. Any redness, swelling, or fever should prompt an immediate visit to a hospital emergency department or an urgent care center.