The Capital (Annapolis, MD)
Copyright 2006 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — A federally funded study has produced safety guidelines aimed at reversing the rising number of deaths among EMT, firefighter trainees, leaders of the project said yesterday.
The recommended measures include having a safety officer present during training, monitoring outdoor heat and humidity, testing trainees’ physical fitness before training and teaching them about proper hydration.
The guidelines were developed by the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute at the University of Maryland, College Park, through a study funded by a $750,000 Department of Homeland Security grant. They are intended to reduce the number of training deaths, which accounted for 10 percent of all on-duty U.S. firefighter deaths in the past decade despite a drop in the number of firefighter deaths overall.
Of the 100 firefighters who died during training from 1996-2005, 53 were felled by cardiac arrest, mostly heart attacks, according to a study released in June by the National Fire Protection Association, which publishes standards for firefighter training and health.
“That’s very disturbing,” said Steven T. Edwards, director of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute. “That training environment should be the safest, most controlled environment firefighters are placed in.”
He said the institute and VivoMetrics Inc., a Ventura, Calif.-based maker of equipment used in the study, will present the guidelines at two national firefighter conferences in October. The nation’s approximately 700 training academies, many run by local governments, will be urged to voluntarily adopt the recommendations, he said.
Mr. Edwards said the guidelines are the first derived from the vital signs of subjects actively engaged in firefighting. Last August and September, the institute measured the heart rates, respiration and body temperatures of 200 firefighters participating in strenuous drills at the institute’s training center. Wearing full turnout gear and breathing apparatus, they ran through a smoke-filled obstacle course, extinguished a third-floor fire and “rescued” a 140-pound dummy from the burning room.
Those measurements, taken by VivoMetrics’ wearable units called LifeShirts, were combined with environmental readings and the subjects’ height, weight, age and gender into a database that can be used to screen the fitness of prospective trainees.
Many of the guidelines refer to existing National Fire Protection Association standards, but the guidelines may be more specific, said Gary O. Tokle, the association’s assistant vice president for public fire protection.
Heat stroke, the most serious health risk for those working in hot environments, is among the threats firefighters face at work and in training.