Firefighters and Fitness: The biggest risk is their big hearts! (A Few Resources)

Source: Fire House

Training is vital to the long term success of any firefighting team. When teams train together, they get to know each other and in turn begin to find ways of tackling tough situations. In rural areas such as ours, we have to train regularly because we encounter a variety of environments that range from hundreds of miles of forests to cars falling through the ice. House fires are sometimes part of the risk but so can be carrying heavy hoses and equipment around. 

In the rural world we rely on everyone and anyone who can reasonably help. Our department has been pretty good at attracting younger people and we want to maintain their interest to get them through required training in a safe manner. It takes time, so being interactive is helpful.

Of course there is a place for people of different skill sets . Some will bust down doors and some will run the trucks. Some will lift heavy hoses and some will tell them where to lay those hoses to gain the most  power and reach. We are a team. Each team member will need to know their limits and training will help them determine not only their abilities but also their limitations. 

Training gives one a fairly good understanding of each persons capacity and abilities. It also provides you insight into where some firefighters might need some help and where they can help others. There are risks to being injured during training but the benefits far outweigh the costs.  Physical overexertion can become a major issue if you are unaware of your physical condition but are pushed to the max during training or during an actual live exercise situation. 

A good place to start for everyone in rural and volunteer departments is for firefighters to be aware of their physical capacities and know their limits. Engage in activities that match one's fitness level. 

You may want to read this research study by NFPA that helps highlight the need for training. U.S. Firefighter Deaths Related to Training, 2009–2018 

Key findings (I put in brackets those things a department could consider.) 

Fahy, 2020 NFPA

• Between 2009 and 2018, 12.9 percent of all on-duty fatalities occurred during training.  (Thinking safe practices and look through the scenes and activities to ensure risks are minimal prior to training. Having proper equipment, expertise and support.)

• The largest share of FF deaths occurred during physical fitness training and apparatus and equipment drills, with both shares accounting for 34 percent of the training deaths. (Thinking about providing fitness guidelines and allowing firefighters to reflect on those needs and/or or talk to their doctors about them. There are plenty of roles to fill in a department.)

• Three-quarters of the deaths were attributed to stress, overexertion and medical causes.   (See fitness needs above. We may also consider getting a fitness trainer to come out and talk to us about nutrition and food. Show us some basic exercises. I probably could do some of that myself.)

• Sudden cardiac death accounted for two-thirds of the deaths. (Include some information in training about these deaths and how to minimize them.)

• Most of the deaths occurred at the fire station or at off-site locations controlled by the fire department.  (It sounds like most of these deaths are related to fitness and readiness versus actual injury. Its something good to keep in mind.)

Firefighting Fitness

I'm looking through fitness to share with my fellow firefighters and department. A couple of resources I'm going to share include. 1. Training Accidents Stats, 2. Stress Test Requirements, 3. FF Fitness Drills. 

A Few Resources: Fitness NFPA Requirements, NFPA Official Site, NFPA 1582 Physical Requirements, CDC Firefighter Resources, IAFF Physical Fitness Tests, Harvard Study on Firefighter Injuries.

Interesting in terms of how reliant we are on volunteers but have various readiness levels.

Grand Chute FD Needs Recruits and EMTs: 38% EMS are cross trained with Firefighters. 5.9% of WI firefighters are career based while 79% are volunteer (That is interesting. They are close to the U.P. so I would suspect we are similar.)

This article is free to share. Its a helpful article so take some of the resources back to your departments. If your interested in contributing to a good cause and volunteering you may want to check us out on Facebook or Google Maps. We also appreciate donations as we are looking to replace a grass truck $100K +-, battery powered extrication spreader and traffic equipment $30K, and expand training based on new investments in the area.