Experts: Heat, stress, heavy gear take dangerous toll

By Jessica Fargen
The Boston Herald

BOSTON — In the wake of the blaze that killed two West Roxbury firefighters last week, experts warn that a ferocious conflagration is far from the only health hazard faced by Boston's bravest.

Heart attacks, brought on by age, poor health, stress and extreme physical demands, are the No. 1 killer of firefighters, experts say.

"They have on 70-plus pounds of gear and they are exerting themselves and it's high heat and stress," said Dr. John Burress, a Boston University Medical School professor and an occupational medicine physician. "It's a perfect setup for anybody who has a predisposition for cardiovascular disease."

Heart attacks took the lives of two of the seven Boston firefighters who died during or after fires since 1994.

Nationwide, 45 percent of the firefighters who die on duty are felled by heart problems, said Dr. Stephen Kales, a professor at Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of a study published in March on firefighter deaths.

He said part of the reason is the lack of required physical tests once a firefighter joins the department.

"There's a mismatch between the physical demands of certain firefighting tasks and the fitness of individual firefighters," he said.

The West Roxbury fire - which smoldered unseen in the ceiling of the Tai Ho restaurant Wednesday night before exploding into a blaze - killed Warren Payne, 53, of Newton and Paul Cahill, 55, of Scituate. The fire sent 12 other firefighters to the hospital for treatment of burns and smoke inhalation.

The more dangerous the task, such as fire suppression, the greater the risk of a heart attack, Kales said.

"People have impressions that smoke inhalation is common, but it's not a very common cause of death," said Kales, medical director of employee and industrial medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance.

However, smoke inhalation can be dangerous: When the skin around the nose or mouth is scorched, the airways can be burned, doctors said.

Firefighters who don't wear protective air masks during overhaul - when residual fires are being knocked down - are at risk of inhaling irritants such as hydrogen chloride, which is emitted from decomposing plastic.

Kurt Ruchala, an on-call paid firefighter in Groveland, said even with all the dangers, he wouldn't give up the duty.

"You are helping people. You are doing something that most people can't do or don't want to do," said Ruchala, director of the fire protection engineering department at FIREPRO Inc. in Andover and a third-generation firefighter. "There's a tradition about it."

Copyright 2007 Boston Herald Inc.