By Mike Cronin
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Copyright 2007 Tribune Review Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
UPPER ST. CLAIR, Pa. — After crawling through mazes two months ago at a San Diego fire school, volunteer firefighter Andy Johnson wondered if he unintentionally holds up crew mates back home at the Upper St. Clair Volunteer Fire Department.
“I noticed I was the slowest person there,” said Johnson, 21, as he recalled the experience of being last in each drill, soaked with sweat. He stands 6 feet 3 inches and weighs about 260 pounds. “I couldn’t believe how out of breath I was. I realized I had to get in shape so I didn’t bring other people down.”
Johnson immediately signed up when his department hired a personal trainer earlier this month to teach voluntary sessions on how to exercise and eat properly. With heart attacks causing almost half of all on-duty firefighter deaths nationwide since 1990, department officials felt simply providing workout facilities and posting nutritional tips were no longer adequate.
No federal or state law mandates minimum fitness standards for firefighters. Only recommended guidelines exist. Policies vary from firehouse to firehouse. Some professional departments require exercise, but most professional and volunteer operations do not.
“A lack of fitness is one of the biggest issues facing firefighters today,” said Mike Russell, 41, a volunteer firefighter who heads Upper St. Clair’s health initiatives. The department offers free annual physicals and has held treadmill-mileage contests and fast-food nutrition awareness campaigns.
From 1994 to 2004, heart attacks caused 45 percent of the more than 100 on-duty firefighter deaths the country typically suffers each year, according to a report last month in The New England Journal of Medicine. Of the state’s 55 firefighters killed on duty from 2001 through 2005, 31 died from heart attacks, data from the Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner and the Maryland-based U.S. Fire Administration show.
The difficulty with establishing a national requirement is twofold, said Kimberly Ettinger, a spokeswoman for the National Volunteer Fire Council in Washington.
“First, many people categorize fitness as a personal choice and argue that you can’t legislate ‘morals,’ ” she said. “Secondly, the cost of establishing a fitness program is prohibitive for some departments.”
Mt. Lebanon fire Chief Nick Sohyda, 38, sees a bigger problem in imposing requirements on volunteers. More than 800,000 of the country’s 1.1 million firefighters — about 70 percent — are volunteers. Volunteers constitute all but 6,000 of Pennsylvania’s 76,000 firefighters.
“Most of the time, you’re just glad to have volunteers,” said Sohyda, who supervises 17 professional and 47 volunteer firefighters.
Sohyda requires Mt. Lebanon’s career firefighters to exercise for one hour during each shift. The department owns $60,000 worth of fitness equipment to entice the volunteers, Sohyda said.
For the 146 members of Shaler’s six volunteer departments, staying in shape is up to the individual firefighter, said Tim Rogers, the township manager.
“There are no fitness standards, no concerted effort,” Rogers said. “The volunteers spend all their time training or fundraising.”
The Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department, with a force of about 350 men and women, offers discount memberships to a local gym, free annual physicals, vaccinations, blood tests and walking, running and dieting programs.
“Hell, that’s all we’ve done for 50 years,” said Chief Ed Hutchinson, 85, of his firehouse fitness programs. Hutchinson has been chief since 1954, works out at least once a day and serves as an example for many of his firefighters like Kim Houser.
“He lives it,” said Houser, 50, who’s been a volunteer since he was 24. “It’s inspirational the way he takes care of himself.”
One popular challenge Hutchinson began decades ago is keeping track of how many miles each person runs until he or she, in effect, has circled the planet, which has a circumference of about 24,900 miles. Hutchinson has logged roughly 25,000 miles on land and another 13,000 running in the pool. Firefighters who choose to participate record their own miles.
Smaller departments with smaller budgets may apply for federal grants to offer more perks. Upper St. Clair, for example, won a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant for $21,000 to buy workout machines. Last week marked the personal trainer’s third visit to the station.
“It’s already made an impact,” said Heidi Cohen, 49, an Upper St. Clair volunteer firefighter for five years, pointing out the vegetables and tuna snacks that have replaced high-calorie, high-fat foods in the department refrigerator. “I won’t eat pizza anymore.”