The purpose of this study was to investigate smart features required for the next generation of personal protective equipment (PPE) for firefighters in Australia, Korea, Japan, and the USA. Questionnaire responses were obtained from 167 Australian, 351 Japanese, 413 Korean, and 763 U.S. firefighters (1,611 males and 61 females). Preferences concerning smart features varied among countries, with...

Left ventricular (LV) mass is a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events; increased LV mass is common among US firefighters and plays a major role in firefighter sudden cardiac death. We aim to identify significant predictors of LV mass among firefighters. Cross-sectional study of 400 career male firefighters selected by an enriched randomization strategy. Weighted analyses were ...

Study Objectives Firefighters' schedules include extended shifts and long work weeks which cause sleep deficiency and circadian rhythm disruption. Many firefighters also suffer from undiagnosed sleep disorders, exacerbating fatigue. We tested the hypothesis that a workplace-based Sleep Health Program (SHP) incorporating sleep health education and sleep disorders screening would improve firefigh...

The firefighter problem is a monotone dynamic process in graphs that can be viewed as modeling the use of a limited supply of vaccinations to stop the spread of an epidemic. In more detail, a fire spreads through a graph, from burning vertices to their unprotected neighbors. In every round, a small amount of unburnt vertices can be protected by firefighters. How many firefighters per turn, on a...

BACKGROUND Little is known regarding duty-related risks for sudden cardiac death (SCD) among young firefighters. AIMS To investigate duty-related SCD among US firefighters aged 45 or younger. METHODS We collected data on duty-related SCD from the US Fire Administration (USFA) and the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Two physicians independently reviewed each...

BACKGROUND Recent epidemiological research on firefighters indicates an increased incidence of specific types of cancer. Intervention is needed in the fire service yet little is known about how firefighters perceive their cancer risk. METHODS Participant observation (150 h, n = 100) and focus group (n = 17) data were collected from 15 fire stations in South Florida. Firefighters had at least ...

Firefighters have high exposure to traumatic events and an increased risk of developing symptoms related trauma. The current study assessed the psychological morbidity, empathy alexithymia volunteer firefighters compared career non-firefighter comparators from general population. Group differences were using multivariate comparisons univariate tests discriminant analysis for individual measures...

OBJECTIVES To examine the effects of sleep restriction on firefighters' physical task performance during simulated wildfire suppression. METHODS Thirty-five firefighters were matched and randomly allocated to either a control condition (8-hour sleep opportunity, n = 18) or a sleep restricted condition (4-hour sleep opportunity, n = 17). Performance on physical work tasks was evaluated across ...

Among the approximately 1.1 million firefighters in the United States (of whom about 70% are volunteers and 30% are paid career personnel), about 100 die each year in the line of duty.1 With the exception of 2001, when 344 firefighters died as a result of the events of September 11 at the World Trade Center in New York City, the number of deaths per year has stayed relatively steady, even thoug...