1. Does increasing age result in declining physical standards of firefighters?
Walker A1,2, Argus C3, Driller M4 and Rattray B1
1UC Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia, 2 ACT Fire & Rescue Service, Canberra, Australia 3 ACT Brumbies Super Rugby, Canberra, Australia 4 Department of Sport and Leisure Studies, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
@walks547
Background
Results
Firefighting is physically demanding, with emergency responses conducted under difficult and hot operating conditions. It is well established that high levels of fitness are crucial to operational safety and effectiveness(1). Retirement ages in Australia are increasing and the effects of older firefighters on the operational response capabilities of services is unknown.
Safely completing firefighting tasks requires a minimum VO2 max of 42 ml.kg-1.min-1 (2). Australian fire services conduct physical abilities testing (PAT) during recruitment requiring 9.6 on a beep test (equivalent to 45 ml.kg-1.min-1). Work specific tasks are also undertaken but are not common between fire services.
No Australian urban fire service tests
fitness post-recruitment
Research into the effects of ageing on the physical standard of Australian firefighters is lacking. Thus, this study aimed to understand changes in physical fitness, power and concurrent body composition as firefighters age.
Figure 1 (left) : Change in Body Composition by 10-year age groups.  Represents lean mass
 represents BMI and  represents body fat. No significant changes were detected.
Figure 2 (right)Predicted Aerobic Capacity by 10-year age groups. The dotted line represents VO2 of 42 ml.min-1.kg-1 required to safely complete firefighting operations. ^ Represents a significant decrease between age groups (p<0.001). * And ** represent a significant decrease (p<0.05).
Methods
73 male firefighters (age 38.9 ± 9.0 years, height ± 6.6 cm, weight 84.2 ± 9.2 kg, service time 10.2 ± 8.8 years) underwent body composition and physical tests over two testing sessions within a 10 day period.
Testing consisted of
Session 1 - Body Composition – DEXA
Session 2 - Predicted aerobic capacity – YYRT1, and
- Work specific power testing
77 kg Dummy Drag (60 m)
50 m Hose Drag (25 mm charged hose)
Participants were grouped into 10 year age groups for analysis. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to compare test results according to the age groups.
Figure 3:. Results of (A) Hose Drag and (B) Dummy Drag by 10- year age groups. The dotted lines represent the recruitment benchmark for ACT Fire & Rescue. * And ** represent significant increases in the time taken to complete the testing.
Ageing is resulting in significant physical declines,
possibly leading to reduced safety of older firefighters
Conclusion
This study has shown that significant age related physical declines are occurring within Australian urban fire services. These declines are likely being exacerbated by a lack of cohesive health and fitness programming within the service and as a result have remained largely undetected.
With the mean age of firefighters increasing, it is important that firefighters can safely complete work tasks regardless of age. Therefore, we recommend that all Australian fire services implement evidence-based workplace health and fitness programs and monitoring to ensure that all firefighters are fit-for-duty at all ages.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to ACT Fire & Rescue for providing funding and operational firefighters and officers for this study.
References
Firefighter Health and Fitness Assessment: A call to action. (Storer, TW et al. 2013)
Third Needs Assessment of the U.S. Fire Service. (NFPA. 2011)