Imagine this scenario: Firefighters are enjoying a calm evening
around the fire station and then suddenly they get a call for a structure
fire. The firefighters are expected to
work at high aerobic capacities for at least the next hour in order to
extinguish this fire. The question is: Are
the firefighters healthy enough to complete the task and survive?
The
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that there are
approximately 1.1 million active volunteer and career firefighters in the
United States of America. The vast
majority of these firefighters are volunteers that serve rural communities with
populations less that 25,000 people. The majority of career firefighters in the
United States are required to pass some kind of physical fitness assessment,
however volunteer fire departments around the country do not put an emphasis on
physical fitness for their firefighters.
Contrary
to common beliefs, the majority of on-duty firefighting deaths are not due to
the actual fire the firefighters are trying to control, but instead due to
underlying cardiovascular disease.
Approximately 45% of on-duty deaths are due to cardiac events, which
occur mostly during fire suppression, training and alarm response (FEMA). In order to help prevent this alarming trend,
the National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health (NIOSH) has repeatedly suggested
the need for annual ‘fitness for duty’ medical evaluations and the need for
mandatory cardiovascular fitness and wellness programs for firefighters.
With
these alarming statistics regarding the deaths and poor cardiovascular health
of firefighters, it is crucial to inform this occupational cohort of the
dangers of an unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle. In order to prevent future deaths of our
nation’s first responders, we should take the advice of NIOSH and implement
mandatory fitness and wellness programs for firefighters.
Sources:
Firefighter Fatalities Statistics and
Reports', 2013) <http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities/fatalityData/statistics
I think it is so important for first responders to be in good physical shape. I have seen many who haven’t made conditioning a priority and it scares me because when they do have that physically demanding call, they will be putting their bodies through so much. I used to work for a performance training center and had a group of firefighters that were required to come in train with me while they were on duty. I know this is not the case, for many reasons, for all city fire departments but it really did help them to stay in good physical condition.
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