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Crime & Safety

Huntley Firefighters Kick It Up A Notch

Nationwide program boosts department's physical fitness.

A national increase in the number of firefighters succumbing to heart attacks has spurred  a health initiative for many fire departments, which has had positive effects for Huntley Fire Protection District.

According to Huntley Fire Chief James Saletta, approximately 85 firefighters died nationwide last year of which 48 succumbed to heart attacks. There are also thousands more firefighters who become ill or get injured each year, and while every firefighter’s health is of concern, it’s the story behind the fatalities that is raising industry eyebrows.

“We’re seeing a trend now that a lot of firefighters are dying within 24 hours of their duty day, and it’s attributed to the stress of having been in a structure fire or in an incident that was physically demanding and emotionally demanding,” Saletta said.

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State-wise, Illinois began addressing the problem with the creation of the Illinois Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives at a 2004 industry summit. Of the 16 initiatives that were introduced, one called for the development and implementation of a national medical and physical fitness standards. That initiative helped create the Wellness/Fitness Initiative (WFI), which was jointly launched by the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) in 2008. In addition to establishing national nutritional, preventive health, and physical fitness programs, the WFI is designed to alleviate firefighter stress and prevent significant costs in lost work time, workers compensation, and disability.

In Huntley, the fire department began following the WFI early last year with 20 department members including Chief Saletta having participated. Overall Huntley has 51 full-time firefighters and 23 part-timers.

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“Prior to (the WFI), we had fitness equipment in the stations and we encouraged firefighters to work out, but there was no set program or direction,” Saletta said. “The program that we have today is not mandatory. It’s voluntary. But we’re looking to expand in the future.”

Helping oversee the program is Huntley firefighter and paramedic Bryan Szymczak, who is an IAFF member and, in accordance with the group’s guidelines, serves as the department’s certified WFI peer fitness trainer.

Before firefighters begin the WFI program they must take a mandatory physical, which the Huntley Fire Department already conducts annually. After that, they undergo a treadmill test to measure their cardio endurance then take a caliper test to measure their percentage of body fat. Lastly, various arm and leg strength tests are administered.

“It’s your standard physical assessment,” Szymczak said. “But after they do their first evaluation, I input all the data. The second time they come in, we do another evaluation and then we sit down and compare where they are. This way I can sit with a member and tell them they need to work on this and give them some exercises to go along with it.”

According to Szymczak, participants can repeat this process on a quarterly, monthly or yearly basis.

Because many Huntley firefighters were already exercising at the fire stations, where there are treadmills, stair masters, elliptical machines, and weight lighting equipment, Szymczak says the group’s initial evaluations were mixed.

“We have a lot of guys who do lifting and strength conditioning, so those member usually have to work on cardio,” he said. “And then we have a lot of guys who do cardio that have to work on strengthening. So it’s kind of a mixture of everything. There’s really no area that’s a downfall for any of them.”

Additionally, Szymczak notes that firefighters have stayed active by playing on the department’s softball team each summer, running full marathons, and climbing the stairs of the 100-story John Hancock Center and the 31-story Oakbrook Terrace Tower.

“We try to stay active,” said Szymack, who has run a handful of half marathons himself. “We have guys who play multiple sports.”

Thus far every member who has participated in the program has improved in the areas that they’ve needed to.

Szymack believes one of the advantages of the WFI is that it has brought structure to informal workout routines. However, on the national level, there have been cases where the initial evaluation has made the difference.

“The WFI has helped multiple firemen throughout the country, (detecting) diseases and a couple of guys with cancer. If they didn’t have (the WFI), they probably would have never found it,” Szymack said.

Chief Saletta noted that while no health problems were detected among the current staff, there was an incident ten years ago in which a mandatory physical revealed heart disease in one Huntley firefighter. The condition was corrected, allowing the firefighter to eventually return to work and, some years later, retire. But it’s that type of success story that led to the implementation of the WFI.

“We want to have firefighters be healthy not only on the job, but also after they retire so they can enjoy their retirement and live a normal healthy life,” Saletta said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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