Firefighters and police officers have the third highest prevalence of obesity among 41 male occupational groups in the United States (US). However, few studies have examined the relationship of firefighter working conditions and health behaviors with obesity. This paper presents a theoretical framework describing the relationship between working conditions, health behaviors, and obesity in fire...

Air consumption, oxygen uptake (VO(2)), carbon dioxide output (VCO(2)) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER=VCO(2)/VO(2)) were measured directly from the self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) as 36 professional firefighters (three women) completed scenarios of high-rise stair climbing and fifth floor search and rescue. During stair climbing VO(2) was 75+/-8% VO(2max) (mean+/-SD), RER=1.10+/-...

Approximately 800,000 firefighters in the United States are volunteer firefighters and 300,000 are career firefighters. Volunteer firefighters primarily serve communities with fewer than 25,000 inhabitants, whereas most career firefighters serve communities of more than 25,000 persons. To characterize fatalities among volunteer and career firefighters, CDC analyzed data from the U.S. Fire Admin...

OBJECTIVE Obesity, despite being a significant determinant of fitness for duty, is reaching epidemic levels in the workplace. Firefighters' fitness is important to their health and to public safety. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES We examined the distribution of BMI and its association with major cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in Massachusetts firefighters who underwent baseline (1...

Title of Document: FIREFIGHTING IN THE NEW ECONOMY: CHANGES IN SKILL AND THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY Brian W. Ward, Ph.D., 2010 Directed By: Dr. Bart Landry, Department of Sociology To better understand the shift in workers’ skills in the New Economy, a case study of professional firefighters (n=42) was conducted using semi-structured interviews to empirically examine skill change and the impact o...