By Ed Hafield
The United States fire service is facing an epidemic of such grand proportions it will haunt us for years to come. The enemy has entered into the fire service in a stealthy fashion without making as much as a single sound. It is prolific in its attack on our personnel and has spread its veil of darkness from one side of the country to the other–West Coast, East Coast, South, and Northwest firefighters are all under attack. If we don’t join together in arms now, many will die.
Growing up in the City of Los Angeles in the late ’60s and early ’70s was pretty interesting, to say the least. Vietnam was coming to a close, the bulk of public opinion had been shaken to the core by national debate about political corruption, and America‘s Burning had just been published and became a calling card about the ability of America’s fire service to save the lives of those it had sworn to protect.
Yet, growing up, one thing was a constant: The Los Angeles City Fire Department and the Los Angeles Police Department motto was “Protect and Serve.” In addition to strong strategic and tactical considerations, physical preparedness and overall fitness associated with the ability to perform one’s job were so important that each member in each agency was required to pass a comprehensive medical screening. Once a member reached 40 years of age, that screening became an annual event. One particular area of concern in each agency was obesity. If your body mass index (BMI) rose above a certain level, you would be placed in what was known as the “Fat Man’s Club” and given a specific time frame to either lose the weight or lose your job! The city of Los Angeles didn’t mess around, and in the ’60s and ’70s, you NEVER saw fat cops or firefighters.
Obviously, things have changed. We must ask ourselves, “Why?” Litigation, discrimination, and a host of other influencing factors associated with progress have played a role, but we must ask ourselves, “Has this been in the best interest of those we serve and those with whom we work?” I say, “No.” Letting our personnel become overweight and obese has a direct impact on their ability to perform their jobs, which impacts our citizens in a negative fashion.
Interestingly enough, we have even gone as far as to say firefighters and law enforcement officers are eligible to retire earlier than the average public servants because of the stressors and other factors associated with their occupation. Multiple studies have addressed and sustained these factors. Yet, the missing component in all of this has been the fitness, conditioning, and job-related performance aspect. Historically, this has not been addressed and, over the past 25 years, has been largely ignored.
Yes, it is true that many departments have adopted wellness or even mandatory fitness programs. Some have adopted the IAFC/IAFF Fitness Wellness Initiative. However, by and large, this is only an adoption of an annual medical screening with no real comprehensive outcome other than for some out-of-shape doctor telling you to run more, lose weight, and eat more oatmeal. Some agencies (but not all) struggle with setting aside time during the day for personnel to maintain some level of fitness. As for the IAFC/IAFF Fitness/Wellness Initiative, it’s a great start and concept, yet most of the time it has ended in a few three-ring binders on the shelves in the library.
Much of the problem revolves around the fire service’s believing its own press. We have always been viewed by the public and those we serve as a bastion of physical strength. We drag heavy hoses, break down doors, and carry people out of burning buildings like Superman carried Lois Lane into the clouds. But let’s be honest. Are we the model of health, strength, and power? Or have we slid into the same level of overall fitness and conditioning as the average office worker?
All we have to do is look at the statistics provided by the United States Fire Administration at the end of each year to see what the reality is. Cardiac-related emergencies continue to account for the vast majority of all firefighter line-of-duty deaths (LODDs). Contrary to popular belief, and what some people are completely ignoring, are the age and risk factors associated with these deaths over the past 10 years. Yes, it’s true we continue to lose older volunteer firefighters associated with cardiac emergencies; however, they do not represent the bulk of those deaths. More alarming than the LODDs in the fire service is the rate of duty-related cardiac emergencies and other manmade diseases such as diabetes, stroke, sleep disorders, and cancers, all of which are associated with OBESITY!
Yes, OBESITY. We as a fire service are not the warrior gods we want to think we are. In fact, the alarming truth is that, according to the most recent study “Addressing the Epidemic of Obesity in the United States Fire Service,” the rate of clinical obesity in the fire service is as high as 40 percent, with across-the-board rates of overweight to obese firefighters at about 77-82 percent. The sad reality is the United States fire service is in bad shape, literally, and we are killing ourselves. It’s not the smoke, it’s not the fire, and it’s not the buildings that are killing our beloved firefighters. They are doing it to themselves and their buddies! What is even more concerning is that nobody wants to admit to it, or they simply deny it. Let’s see: denial, anger, and avoidance. Sounds like WE have a problem.
It’s wake-up time. The United States fire service can no longer deny the facts and avoid the discussion about overweight, obese, and nonconditioned employees. Paid or volunteer, we must all join arms and start figuring out what we are going to do to reverse this deadly killer. It won’t be easy, and not everyone will get in the boat–in fact, some will get left behind, but that will be their choice. They either choose to live or they choose to die. “Let no man’s ghost say we didn’t try.”
The choice to live against overwhelming odds is an amazing force. We know there are only two ways of conditioning our bodies and adjusting our lifestyle for greater health, overall improved conditioning, and fitness, which allow our bodies to respond to the stresses of the job. Those two key factors are healthy nutritional lifestyle modification and improved physical conditioning through functional fitness programming.
Why is obesity so common in the fire service? Simple, we have a culture of food and overeating; we eat too many processed, simple carbohydrates; and our sleep patterns and disorders force us into an insulin-resistant state in which our bodies are programmed to get fat. I won’t deny it; the absolute best part about the fire service is the food. However, part of our culture of food and what we eat has been identified in clinical studies as the leading cause of our manmade disease train, which the vast majority of the fire service is on. Heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s are manmade diseases which tie right back and correlate with being overweight and obese.
Stop the damn train. In his book Food Rules: An Eater‘s Manual, health writer Michael Pollen provides some simple rules to follow for healthier eating habits and the beginning of the journey to life.
Here are some simple rules to follow when shopping for chow for the firehouse.
- Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. In other words, if she didn’t grow it, raise it, kill it herself, or buy it fresh from the farmer down the road, don’t eat it!
- Avoid foods that have some form of sugar or sweetener listed among the ingredients.
- Avoid foods that contain processed products or products which have been refined.
- Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce. If your seven-year-old asks you what that word means, don’t eat it, and don’t give it to him either.
- Avoid food products that make health claims. Healthy food choices don’t need a marketing team or infomercial.
- Avoid food products with the word “lite” or the terms “low-fat” or “nonfat” in their names. It’s a marketing scheme and won’t do your body good.
- Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not (one example is margarine).
- Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. Not much good comes out of boxes and cans as it relates to your health.
If we truly care about one another, if we truly desire to reduce the number of LODDs in the United States, and if we as a fire service care about the public we are sworn to protect, we must stop the downward spiral of our overall conditioning and general health. It is the job of each and every firefighter, no matter what age, rank, or status (paid or volunteer) to take it upon themselves and make a conscious choice to be better-conditioned occupational athletes, perform at a higher fitness level, create healthier nutritional choices, and be proud of what we represent.
This epidemic is not a matter of labor or management, nor is it a matter of paid or volunteer. This is a personal choice everyone will make every day. Remember, it’s your choice; it’s your life. You either choose to live or you choose to die.
EDWARD HADFIELD has more than 25 years of fire service experience and serves as a division chief. He is a frequent speaker on leadership, sharing his experiences within the fire service, and also with corporate and civic leaders throughout the United States. He created and teaches company officer development programs and is a specialist in truck company operations, firefighter safety and survivability, and mission-focused command tactics. He was the 2004 California Training Officer of the Year. He has developed state and regional truck company academies in California, Washington, and Oregon.
RELATED ARTICLES
