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This edition’s cover story gets straight to the heart of the matter when it comes to health, and I’ll quote Benjamin Franklin aptly here: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In today’s lingo, that translates to selfcare and screening, two critical components of firefighter health and well-being. Firefighters put their bodies through all sorts of stress, from heat and smoke to heavy lifting and heartbreak. But I sure don’t need to tell you that. You are a firefighter. You can probably feel the stress in your bones, your muscles; the coursing of adrenaline as it dissipates, the weariness of a fitful sleep. As a firefighter, you’re also human, and being a modern day human is often hectic with the problems of today bearing down on our willpower to assess and prevent potential problems that seem years away. The heart seems like an easy thing to take for granted. We can’t see it, or feel it unless it really begins to pound. Many of us now wear devices that monitor heart rates, which brings it a bit more to the fore, where it really ought to be. It’s much better to keep a healthy heart strong than to attend to the strife of cardiovascular disease.
If you research preventa -
tive health care online, you can quickly come up with American studies and research showing that insurance, reimbursement models — essentially finances — play a key role in why or why not people are partaking in recommended screening practices (see “Health Care Industry Insights: Why the Use of Preventive Services Is Still Low,” published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). These sentiments seem like they would bear little meaning in Canada’s universal health care system, yet prevention can be a challenge through access,
Cancer is the #1 killer of firefighters. A failing heart is the leading cause of on-duty deaths.
opportunity, awareness of health factors and chronic disease, and, like all matters in life, time, distraction and plain old cases of “got sidetracked” come into play.
The federal government has summed up the crux of its focus nicely through its Declaration on Prevention and Promotion from Canada’s Ministers of Health and Health Promotion/Healthy Living: “While we have the means to prevent or delay many health problems, Canada’s current health system is
mainly focused on diagnosis, treatment and care. To create healthier populations, and to sustain our publicly funded health system, a better balance between prevention and treatment must be achieved.”
The onus isn’t just on individuals to recognize, value and make time for preventative health screening. It’s also on the healthcare system itself to communicate and promote these available tools. But the need for self-advocacy and self-efficacy is high when it is one’s own life under consideration.
Firefighters must be particularly vigilante in monitoring their health, within their departments and with their doctors. Cancer is the #1 killer of firefighters. A failing heart is the leading cause of on-duty deaths. Both of these conditions benefit from preventative measures, and neither are a condition you want to have to battle with cures that are nowhere near infallible.
January 2022
Vol. 45, No. 1 cdnfirefighter.com
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Manitoba government adds more cancers to presumptive list for firefighters
The Manitoba government amended the Workers Compensation Act (WCA) to include coverage for five additional cancers on its list of those deemed presumptive occupational disease for firefighters and at-risk personnel in the Manitoba Fire Commissioners Office. There are 14 types of cancer already included in the act. The additional five are primary site thyroid cancer, primary site pancreatic cancer, primary ovarian cancer, primary site cervical cancer and primary site penile cancer. The first list of presumptive cancers for firefighters was added to the act in 2002. The list was expanded in 2005, with coverage extended to part-time firefighters. The list was further expanded in 2009, and again in 2011, along with the addition of coverage for fire commissioner office personnel.
Analysis projects warmer winters, hotter summers
Canadian communities need to prepare for dramatic changes to winter and summer temperatures, suggests a new municipal-level analysis of climate projections for the coming decades. The Local News Data Hub at Ryerson University compared temperatures from 1951 to 1980 with projections for the period 2051 to 2080 using data from ClimateData.ca, a national initiative bringing together scientists from university, government and private-sector organizations. The results for 30 cities and towns show that in most locations there will be fewer days when the thermometer drops below zero. The analysis suggests residents accustomed to deep-freeze cold will encounter temperatures below -15 C less often and sweltering summer heat above 30 C will be more prevalent.
There were about
6,220
wildfires in Canada in 2021. Over
4.18
million hectares burned — Government of Canada.
Fire Safety Certification program launches in Ontario
Almost every building owner in Ontario is required to have a Fire Safety Plan approved and implemented at their building. Part of this implementation, required by the Ontario Fire Code, is that all “supervisory” staff of that building be trained on how to implement the Fire Safety Plan, and understand their own roles and responsibilities under that plan – before being given any responsibilities at the building.
for industry recognized training aimed at building owners and staff to assist and support them in understanding their roles and responsibilities under the Fire Code.
Space heaters are most commonly involved in home heating equipment fires, making up more than two of every five fires (44 per cent) — NFPA
Building owners and building staff, responsible for fire safety, must understand that their specific roles and responsibilities impact both occupant and firefighter safety. This makes it essential that before firefighters arrive at your building, staff must have successfully implemented the Fire Safety Plan. The most appropriate way to do this is through training of the specific roles and responsibilities that building supervisory staff fulfill, in adherence to the Fire Safety Plan. Helping to meet this obligation, the new online fire safety training program launched by the National Life Safety Group (NLSG) is providing critical knowledge to ensure that both public and private organizations not only comply with the Fire Code, but truly understand their fire safety plan so they can effectively implement it.
The new NLSG training program also provides a solution to the recent “Raising the Alarm” report by the City of Toronto’s auditor general, which highlighted the need
In a 1995 coroner’s inquest into the Forrest Laneway fire that resulted in multiple deaths, the coroner recommended that the building owners have mandatory training to better understand their accountabilities. Specifically, the inquest recommended to: “Develop a mandatory, certification training course for building supervisory staff which includes the following subjects: the use of emergency voice communication systems (EVAC), fire alarms systems, sprinkler systems, smoke control measures, emergency power, elevator operations and control, fire safety planning, maintenance of door closures, understanding / scheduling of maintenance as detailed in the Ontario Fire Code.”
With thousands of firefighters and 441 fire departments across Ontario risking their lives for public safety every day, completing the online or in-person training for residential or commercial buildings is a small but legally required step that every responsible property owner, property management team and employer must complete. This new training program allows everyone with responsibilities included in Section 2.8 of the Ontario Fire Code, to fully understand their fire safety plan.
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Heart health
The pandemic, hearth health in firefighters and what you need to know about CAC scans.
By Julie Fitz-Gerald
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated cases of cardiovascular disease by disrupting much-needed care, screening and research, shows a report released in October by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (Heart & Stroke). Considering that NFPA research shows that sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of on-duty deaths among firefighters, this new research from the foundation is troubling.
“Its findings showed that the pandemic had a significant impact on heart and brain health,” said Patrice Lindsay, Heart & Stroke’s director of health systems change. “Those living with heart disease are worse off – both physically and mentally – since they could not always access the care they required during the pandemic. There is also fear that the COVID-19 virus damaged previously healthy hearts. The pandemic has also increased inequities in care, and this is expected to continue. ”
What’s more, Lindsay said that 78 per cent of those surveyed are worried that the pandemic has slowed or stopped critical heart and brain health research. With 1.6 million people in Canada living with heart disease and stroke, representing two of the three leading causes of death in the country as per Heart & Stroke research, a concerted effort for prevention and screening is paramount.
We know that firefighters are at a heightened risk of experiencing sudden cardiac events due to the nature of the job. Running into burning buildings, being the first on the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident, carrying heavy weight under intense heat – all of these instances can trigger a sudden cardiac event. Undetected heart issues are of particular concern. A 2021 study, “Pathoanatomic Findings Associated with Duty-Related Cardiac Death in US Firefighters,” published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found that “evidence of a prior myocardial infarction conveyed approximately a six-fold increase in the risk of duty-related cardiac death. Diagnosed CHD (coronary heart disease) is one
of the strongest predictors of SCD (sudden cardiac death) in both the general population and among firefighters; and among firefighters with diagnosed CHD, those with evidence of myocardial damage were more likely to experience a fatal outcome related to a duty-related CHD event.”
Dominique Ashen, PhD, director of Johns Hopkins Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program for Firefighters and a nurse practitioner at the Ciccarone Center for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, says helping fire departments develop programs that detect and minimize risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is crucial to preventing on-duty cardiac arrest. Ashen, along with colleagues Dr. Elizabeth Ratchford and Kathryn Carson, conducted a study published in August of 2021 in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine titled, “Coronary Calcium Scanning and Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Among Firefighters.” They found that a coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan can provide early detection for firefighters at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
“The CAC scan is a non-invasive, low-radiation, fast CT used to identify calcified plaques in coronary arter-
A recent survey by Heart & Stroke showed that people with heart disease became worse off, physically and mentally, during the pandemic.
ies and gives us a measure of the burden of atherosclerosis for an individual,” explained Ashen.
She notes that the CAC scan is an important tool that should be incorporated into a comprehensive cardiovascular disease prevention program (CDPP) implemented early in a firefighter’s career to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The study was conducted on asymptomatic firefighters from three Maryland counties aged 40 and up with no known cardiovascular disease or diabetes. It found that 39 per cent of firefighters who received the CAC scan had calcified plaque in their coronary arteries, with 91 per cent of those having an above average amount based on their age, sex and ethnicity.
“The CAC screening helps us refine the CVD risk assessment and allows us to better manage the cardiovascular health of firefighters. Without the scan, we would have missed 39 per cent of firefighters with subclinical disease,”Ashen said.
She explained that with the knowledge gained from the CAC scan, medication – like statins to lower cholesterol – as well as lifestyle changes that include a healthy diet, exercise and eliminating substances like alcohol and tobacco, can be implemented, providing a solid prevention program for cardiovascular disease and
thus significantly lowering the risk of sudden cardiac death. By getting fire departments, primary care providers and occupational health departments working together to support the CDPP, firefighters will benefit.
“It’s all about starting risk assessment and risk reduction early. For those firefighters less than 40 years of age in whom we do not generally do CAC screening, you can provide education about healthy lifestyle habits and their importance in healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels, two important risk factors for CVD,” said Ashen.
While the CAC scans on female firefighters in the study did not return any worrying results, Ashen reminds us that it’s still important for this group to be tested because heart disease remains the number one risk for death in women in the U.S.
This approach is backed up by a report by the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit and the University of the Fraser Valley, “Determinants of Injury and Death in Canadian Firefighters: A Case for a National Firefighter Wellness Surveillance System.” The report stated that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of on-duty death among firefighters due to the physical demands, emotional stress and environmental hazards that place stress on the cardiovascular system. According to the findings, the highest percentage of fatality claims due to cardiovascular disease among firefighters were from males between the ages of 55 and 59 (28.6 per cent).
CAC scans
This non-invasive, quick, low radiation CT scan can identify calcified plaques in coronary arteries.
A step-by-step protocol for heart health was laid out by The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in their report “Preventing Fire Fighter Fatalities Due to Heart Attacks and Other Sudden Cardiovascular Events.” The report recommends fire departments can reduce on-duty heart attacks and other sudden cardiac events by providing medical evaluations, making sure the doctors doing the exams are knowledgeable about the physical demands of fire fighting, having a comprehensive wellness/fitness program, controlling exposure to contaminants through PPE and best practices at fire scenes, ensuring good staffing levels to prevent over-exertion, on-scene rehab and a hearing conservation program.
Add to this the coronary artery calcium scan, and you have a solid cardiovascular disease prevention program that will protect the lives of firefighters.
As the pandemic wears on with new variants cropping up and bearing down on populations around the globe, a disruption to healthcare and research into heart health may linger, making it imperative that fire departments – and firefighters themselves – take charge by way of cardiovascular disease prevention and screening.
From Hire to Retire
By Arjuna George
The retirement rollercoaster
Ihave had the extreme privilege to write for Canadian Firefighter magazine for over a decade now. My column “Between Alarms” brought me so much joy and satisfaction, but now it is time for a change. This new column will now be called “From Hire to Retire” and focus on career development, leadership, and nuggets on living a healthy life and career into retirement. I hope this new theme brings value to those pursuing the fire life, those on the road to retirement and all in between.
This past November, I hung up my helmet as fire chief for Salt Spring Island Rescue in B.C. After almost 25 years of service, my heart told me it was time for a change. I was feeling the effects on my health, so I decided to resign and move towards new opportunities with this deep introspection. Retiring has been nothing short of a rollercoaster.
The fire service is a tightknit community. We wear other fire departments’ t-shirts and collect fire memorabilia from around the globe. Fire fighting is in our blood and instantly becomes what we identify ourselves with. The fire community provides a worldwide camaraderie and a genuine sense of belonging. That feeling helps us propel forward, strive for constant improvement, and serve the public the best we can. This sense of belonging runs deep in our veins and forms what we think of ourselves. It forms the basis for our identity, both in-
ternally and externally. Unfortunately, this fire service hardwiring can be challenging to separate from when it is time to move on.
For most of my adult life, I have been a firefighter, and then that retirement day comes, and I am no longer a firefighter, but now a civilian. I believe that once you become a firefighter or a fire chief, you are always a brother or sister of mine, and you are always a part of the fire family. If you have this mindset, moving forward becomes less lonely.
I know from recent experience that retiring from the fire service is tricky. It pulls on your heart and can be extremely difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. This deep-rooted belief in ourselves makes us feel broken or empty when we depart from active duty.
Here are my top four strategies to make a smoother transition from fire to whatever is next.
1. A retirement plan: I did not realize it, but I have been planning my career and retirement unintentionally. As a firefighter, I suggest that from day one you begin to brainstorm your future, your advancement goals, and how you want to leave the service. I might sound dark or lazy to be considering retiring when you first join, but looking back on my career history, I feel those pre-plans helped me navigate the transitions the best I could. Planning your retirement is not a reflection of your eagerness to get out, it is demon -
strating the normalcy of leaving and preparing yourself that much more. The day you join, technically, you are on the path to exiting at some point.
2. A new purpose: I found that having a new idea, hobby, or career in mind helped fill the voids in the transition. Going from active duty to retirement with nothing to look forward to can be detrimental
As you navigate your career, as either a professional volunteer or a career firefighter, we must remember we are human first and that being a firefighter is only part of your life.
to a healthy retirement. Find a new purpose that provides you with satisfaction and joy. A handy tool to try is Ikigia, a Japanese philosophy that helps describe and hone in on your life. The fundamentals of Ikigai contains all parts of a happy and healthy life. These four components include passion, vocation, profession, and mission. If your retirement pre-plan has space for your encore career to meet these four factors of meaning, you will genuinely enjoy the future.
3. Mental health support: As I noted, this transition halfway through life can be uncomfortable and new territory for most. Doing it, with no mental health support, can be challenging. I worked with several health professionals to help guide me
through the evolution.
4. Support system: On top of psychological help, I found great support amongst the fire service community, family, and friends. If you can, build an army of supporters to be in your court. It makes for a safer transition than navigating it alone.
I, like most, experienced a roller coaster of emotions and doubts throughout my final year. My mind kept pulling at me, questioning all the things I was giving up, all the fantastic people I was leaving behind, but my heart always won. My most challenging day was when I had to submit my final farewell to the organization and the community. I did not anticipate any changes leading up to that, but pressing that enter key was tough. Because I knew as soon as I pressed that send button, it was done. It was a chapter in my life closed.
It’s all too common for those nearing the end of their career to let their ego get in the way, alongside thoughts of “no one can do what I do,” or “I just want to do one more year, then I will…” One of our main goals while climbing the ladder is to build future leaders underneath us. Those we teach, and prepare can continue the legacy with honour. It helps to know that we are all replaceable, and with that mindset, one’s ego is better managed, and one can let go more quickly.
Arjuna George retired as a fire chief in November of 2020 after serving the department in Salt Spring Island, B.C., since 1997. He is now a fire service coach and consultant. Visit silverarrowco.com or email arjuna@silverarrowco.com
Rescue Reborn
A
new auto ex event comes to Ontario
By Chad Roberts
Inspiring others to leave the service better than when you first started. Giving back. Sharing what has been bestowed upon us from others. These shouldn’t just be things that are said or written down, but should motivate us every day.
When it comes to auto extrication and rescue as a whole, I’ve been fortunate to meet many intelligent and motivational figures that drive me to continue and share knowledge. I found myself wanting to start something bigger than just words, something that would not only bring like-minded individuals together, but continue to inspire others to step outside of their comfort zone and be the firefighter they envisioned themselves being when they first started in the job.
Seems simple, right? And honestly, it’s not rocket science. A simple trip online to view what’s going on with FOOLS (The Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society) groups all over North America, combined with some of my previous experiences I have had through the various competitions all over the word, made the solution clear to me. Just get everyone out and get work done. It’s the basis of our entire service; being together with others who share our interests and getting to work. It’s no secret that getting everyone back out after some lifted restrictions is a challenge in itself. Our brothers and sisters were afforded free time during the pandemic we’ve never been accustomed to and trying to pry that time away is no easy feat.
Why is that a province such as Ontario, with one of the largest highway corridors in North America (large enough to warrant a national TV show), has not facilitated a rescue conference that helps identify issues, train and share knowledge in all things
rescue related?
It always seemed puzzling to me, but this idea was the ticket. This is what has been needed for so many years, by so many of us wanting more. However, these events just don’t fall out of the sky and materialize, and they most certainly require more than one person to make it a reality.
In comes the Markham Fire Department, their Fire Chief Adam Grant and their newly formed auto extrication team. While
helping this team get their feet off the ground this year, the topic came up of some type of local rescue competition to fill our pandemic laden void, where teams from anywhere could come together in attempt to make use of the hard work of those continuing to train, and learn over that time. With about a month to plan, we put together the team from Markham Fire (Brad Sterling, Ray Lalonde, Howie Tse), and got to work on planning Ontario’s First
Complete carnage during the simultaneous HOT pits!
Chad Roberts is a firefighter in Oakville, Ont. He is a member of the Oakville extrication team and competes and trains across North America. Contact Chad at chadroberts12@gmail.com.
Inaugural Rescue Challenge and Training Symposium.
With support from all levels, the number one thing that needed to be taken care of was the site for the symposium and the vehicles needed. While this may seem simple enough, it is always the number one logistical issue that prevents these great events from happening. And when needed the most, Standard Auto Wreckers in Scarborough stepped up in a major way to not only provide the site and vehicles, but also the heavy machinery to set up our competitions and training scenarios. Owner David Gold made our event a reality, making nothing but accommodations for our group.
Next up was our tool vendors. With representatives from 1200 Degrees, Holmatro, M&L Supply, Amkus, A.J. Stone and Dewalt able to attend, this provided us with ability for all the teams to sample and try out all the latest and greatest rescue tools on the market. Not only were they able to make use of the tools during the competition pits, these vendors were able to guide the attendees through the afternoon HOT pits (Hands-On-Training pits).
After all the quick planning and help from team members, vendors, chief personnel and the wreckers on site, it was time for the event to finally take its inaugural flight. So, on the cold mor ning of Oct. 22, roughly 50 members from departments across the Greater Toronto Area and Ontario got together in hopes to compete, learn and train with one another for the first time in almost two years! Also, in attendance were fire management from Markham Fire, the Hogtown FOOLS, TERC Canada, Canadian Auto Recycler magazine, and many more supporters who came out to achieve what this event set out to accomplish: Learn something new, try something new, and meet someone new.
The first half of the day was in the hands of the auto extrication teams from Oakville and Markham, who showcased their skills and truly gave everyone there an idea of how the world of extri cation competitions really work. Through the direction of TERC Canada judges Ken Niceliu and Chad Hammer, both teams were given one unlimited scenario (where all tools available are able to be used), and one limited pit (no use of hydraulic tools permitted). The teams showed great skill and teamwork while navigating both scenarios set up by the staff of Standard Auto Wreckers. While these scenarios can bring out the competitiveness in the members, the true meaning of these events was ultimately accomplished. Being able to complete the scenarios in the allotted time is always a great feeling, but what both teams realized is that
being humbled by the little mistakes or things they could have done better is what really matters and makes us better.
Once the competitions were out of the way, it was time for the HOT pits. When I set out planning this event with the crew and management team from Markham, this was a must for our event. The idea of the competitions is great and can provide learning opportunities, but being able to offer the team members and other personnel who attended the ability to work with our vendors would be a lasting impression for everyone
Portable Dry Hydrant
Participants at the inaugural Ontario Rescue Challenge and Training Symposium.
involved. Our great vendors were provided with multiple vehicles where different groups could rotate through and learn some new tips and tricks using anything from the newest Holmatro, Amkus, or Genesis tools, and even getting in some lifting techniques with the use of Paratech struts. Not only would this be a playground of destruction, the idea behind combining the competition with the HOT pits is that no matter how well or poorly a team or member did during the scenarios, they would all walk away having a great time training at the end of the day.
All in all, when the long day of training, competing, and conversing with like-minded brothers and sisters had ended, there was nothing but positives that came out of the day. The event provided the opportunity for teams and firefighters across the
province with a chance to get out and train for the first time in a long time, and it also gave us some great contacts and ideas for next year’s events and competitions.
With the first year in the books, planning has already begun for next year in what hopes to be a bigger, better event that attracts more teams from not only Ontario, but from Canada wide and even the U.S. And while there will always be additions and different ideas tried, the premise of this event will remain the same:To take rescue teams in Ontario and all over well above that fine line between inadequacy and minimum standard.
For more information about the Ontario Rescue Challenge and Training Symposium’s future events, please follow us or TERC Canada on Facebook for the most up to date 2022 announcements.
A critical goal of my career plan was to retire on a high note, which occurred in many ways, but not as I had planned, of course. Being away from my fire family was a strain on me for sure, but I feel I still left a mark on our organization and left on a high.
Discharging of the Loyal Soldier is a term that originates from the World War II Japanese who struggled with integration back into civilian life. The concept is simple and allows for permission to discharge with honours. What the Japanese did was welcome home their heroes with an abundance of love and accolades. Finally, announce to all that they are free to stand down, thus sending a message of support and helping them to be valuable members of society. We should all embrace the discharging of our loyal firefighters by celebrating them and helping them in the following chapters of their lives.
Many may be shocked that I would leave a sought-after position and career but let me tell you, my authentic self is at peace with it. It is okay to retire when you are ready, when your heart and gut say it is time. No one tells you that you must stay active in the fire service, and there is no rule that you must remain until the bittersweet end once you’ve joined. Sometimes you can leave your legacy in a much shorter time.
Richard Rohr, author of Falling Upward, said: “This kind of closure is much needed for most of us at the end of all major transitions in life. Because we have lost any sense of the need for such rites of passage, most of our people have no clear crossover to the second half of their own lives.”
As you navigate your career, as either a professional volunteer or a career firefighter, we must remember we are human first and that being a firefighter is only part of your life. May you all live a healthy career and a healthy retirement.
Fit for Duty
By Sherry Dean
Leadership and fitness
As a recently promoted chief officer, it was interesting to hear someone be surprised that I would continue to work out each day. It’s not an anomaly, there are a number of chief officers in my department who work out regularly, but it does pose an interesting question. Should your department’s chiefs continue to work out and promote fitness? I’m biased. Of course, they should. Health and fitness should be a part of everyone’s regular practice.
Although the focus may change for people advancing in their careers, remaining fit and setting examples for others to follow is something that would be great to see from all organizational leaders. New recruits work hard at being well conditioned firefighters when they join their department, both volunteer and career. A lot of departments have a minimum fitness standard that recruits must achieve before they are permitted to join. It’s unfortunate, but a lot of the time the level of fitness new people have when they join is the best fitness they will ever have.
If your department hasn’t yet developed a fitness standard or doesn’t yet promote regular fitness practices, there is no time like the present. Reach out to another fire department for some advice. There are a number of different standards including CPAT, York Test/Gledhill Fitness Protocol, Beep Test/VO2 Max tests are a few of the entry standard used by departments to qualify new recruits.
For continued wellness practice the IAFF and IAFC (VCOS) both promote the Wellness Fitness Initiative (WFI). This initiative covers a number of areas of wellness including medical maintenance, fitness, injury prevention, and behavioural health to name a few. It also talks specifically to the responsibilities of the chief (and other chief officers) in promoting wellness and health in the department.
Most chiefs have some level of operational responsibility which fits in with the need to maintain appropriate fitness
Sherry Dean is a career firefighter/engineer with Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Service. She has more than 20 years of experience in fitness and training. Contact Sherry at deansherry@bellaliant.net.
levels. The additional stress of added responsibilities only adds to the importance of wellness, not diminish it. People look to the leaders in their department and will follow the consensus.
Let your firefighters see you setting the bar high for all wellness practices whether you are a captain, training officer, chief officer or the chief. Be active and join your crews occasionally to workout with them. Provide time and resources in your stations for your firefighters to train and practice other health benefits in the areas of diet, mental wellness and stress relief. Encourage your firefighters to get regular health checks with their physicians. Educate the physicians with the true demands of the work being done by firefighters. Be well, be safe. Now go get your shorts on and get to work!
Work Out
Warm-up 5 minutes
• 5 front shoulder rolls, 5 reverse shoulder rolls
• 5 forward arm circles, 5 reverse arm circles
• 30 sec high knees
• 30 sec butt kicks
• 30 sec jumping jacks
• 30 sec skaters
• 10 kick to opposite hand R/L
• 10-inch worms
• 15 walking lunges with R/L twist each step
• 20 air squats with arm extension overhead at bottom of squat
Cardio 15 minutes
• 3 Tabatas (4 mins each Tabata – 8 rounds of 20 secs on, 10 secs off)
• Rest 1 minute between Tabatas
• Choose whatever method of cardio you like. Stick with one or change each Tabata. Run, row, cycle, burpee, run stairs. Whatever you choose just work to your max on your 20 sec and rest for 10 secs.
Strength
Use what you have available. Weights,
hoses, containers of foam or buckets of water. There are 10 exercises. Pick the minute timing that works best for you, but also makes you work. Your choice of 30 secs on/30 off, 40 secs on/20 off, 45 secs on, 15 off
• Weighted squat with press – hold weight close to body during squat, extend arms straight out in standing position.
• Bent over row – single arm or barbell or reverse row (laying pull ups)
• Travelling push ups – move your arms after each push up. Use a weight to step up a level or do push ups off with feet elevated off the ground on a bench.
• Upright row – alternating or both arms at once
• Step ups or box jumps (use a bench or stairs if you don’t have a box
• Ground to overhead – the weight starts on the ground and end up with arm(s) fully extended overhead. You can choose the method you like. Single arm dumbbell snatch, deadlift, curl to overhead press etc.
• Walking lunges - forward or reverse
• Tricep dips – Feet on the floor or on a bench/box
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is currently a firefighter with the FGFD. Mark is an international instructor teaching in Canada, the United States, FDIC and India. He is the lead author of Fire Engineering’s Residential Fire Rescue & Tactical Firefighter books. He can be contacted at Mark@FireStarTraining.com.
Firefighter survival: the hang and drop
Firefighter survival tactics are evasive, and should be considered risky when employing them. They are reserved for last ditch efforts when facing a life and death situation. A firefighter who is trapped with flashover impending or already occurred needs to escape the situation and environment as quickly as possible — by any means necessary.
In this Back to Basics, we’re going to look at a very risky and injury prone escape technique called ‘the hang and drop’.
This technique is an option that is available but should only to be used when there is no other option and you have to get out now . Whenever a flashover occurs, it has been shown that a firefighter only has about two seconds or five feet to get out. That is not a lot of time or distance to get out safely. The hang and drop may be the your only option.
We should use this option when there is no ladder placed at the window and no bail out kit attached to your gear. This is one reason why laddering every window at a structure fire is paramount in actions that can be taken ahead of time. Laddering all four sides of the building and every window will ensure a method for escape.
Some critics will argue that laddering every window is overkill and will require many firefighters to complete it. This is not true – one firefighter can effectively ladder every
window. This can be the driver of the second arriving truck or even the first arriving truck. If the driver is not able to complete this entirely, then the RIT team can! This is part of their proactive fireground actions, to set up, open up the building and provide means of egress for interior crews.
Using this escape technique will produce injuries to any part of the body: broken bones, rolled ankles, back/spine injuries, etc. Doing this will guarantee being injured while escaping, but you will be out of the building and alive to recover. Don’t forget that we are wearing a considerable amount of extra weight such as our gear, SCBA and whatever is in our pockets. All of this adds to our total body weight and when you add in gravity when falling, you will have a substantial impact when hitting the ground. This technique is applicable to a second or third story window. Anything higher will produce life threatening injuries, debilitating injuries or death. With a second story
window at a residential structure, the height from the ground up to the windowsill will vary based upon the lay of the land, but on average will be about 13 feet.
The distance of the fall can be reduced by hanging before dropping. This will involve getting out of the window and hanging onto the windowsill with your hands only. Doing this will reduce the fall height by the length of your body. Getting out of the window will require the window to be cleared first using a hand tool or some object. Try and get most of the glass out of the way to avoid sharp jagged edges on the sill cutting through our gloves. As much as we want to avoid this, in the moment of escape (which is going to be quick), this can be overlooked as it could be a minor injury in the grand scheme of things.
Once the window has been cleared, staying as low as possible, you are going to roll out of the window head first, but maintain a hold on the windowsill with both hands. Once your
feet are out of the window, you should be hanging by your hands. Now you can wait until a ladder is brought over to you, if you have been noticed by another crew, but this will depend on your strength. With adrenalin pumping through your veins at this moment, you may have some extra strength and endurance to hold on for a little while (a few seconds) while a ladder is brought over to you. Chances are you are not going to be able to hold yourself there with all of that weight and will drop.
When you contact the ground, try to tuck and roll to help reduce the shock to your body when you hit the ground. This sounds easy, but it will require practice to try and build some muscle memory to do it should the time ever come.
If you are going to train for this, or practice this technique, some prep work will be needed. In the photo, you will see a track and field mat being used. A pole vaulting or high jump mat will work best as it will have enough cushion to reduce the injury or contact with a solid surface like the ground.
Try and use a window that is not too high off the ground. This will reduce the fall height. If there is a window below the one that you are using, then cover it with OSB as seen in the photo to avoid any person from putting a leg through it or having broken glass flying around.
As mentioned in the beginning of the article, this technique is to be used only when there is no other option available and you need to get out now
To train for how to perform the hang and drop escape from a window, a pole vaulting or high jump mat will work best as it will have enough cushion to reduce the injury or contact with a solid surface like the ground.
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Recipe Rescue
By Patrick Mathieu
Mathieu is an acting captain at Waterloo Fire Rescue in Ontario. He was featured on Food Network’s Chopped Canada. Contact Patrick at stationhousecateringco@yahoo.ca or @StationHouseCCo.
Cooking a firehouse classic
Irecently celebrated 22 years on the job with Waterloo Fire Rescue. It’s hard to believe how fast time has passed! I still love this career as much as I did the day I started back in 1999. So many aspects of the fire service and my department have changed since then. It is easy to see in our call volume, the way we respond to emergencies, the way we train, in our safety protocols and even in our culture. Despite all the changes one thing that can still be counted on as a firehouse tradition is the classic celebratory meal. Yes, it is a firehouse tradition from the day you start; when you pass your first year probation and every increment after that, when you celebrate a birthday or work anniversary, receive a promotion, or when you just want to treat your crew; you cook them (and pay!) for a really nice meal.
The importance of that meal goes back generations and you could ask any firefighter across North America and the odds are the meal would be the same: the classic firehouse steak and potatoes. Of course, some variations occur from station to station (how you cook the steak, how you top the steak, what potato dish are you going for?) but the meat and potatoes (pun intended!) will always remain the same. Let’s slice a little deeper into this firehouse classic and chat about my favorite way to cook a steak and the best spuds to go along with it.
You got to love the kind of dinner that you can cook without a recipe. The truth is,
good cooking is more about technique than recipes and the best dishes are often the simplest to prepare. That is what a properly pan seared steak is. With just a few ingredients and a single pan, you can cook a steak that’s as delicious as one you’d order in a high-end steakhouse. The key is knowing how to pansear. Pan-searing is a classic technique in which the surface of the food is cooked undisturbed in a very hot pan until a crisp, golden-brown, flavourful crust forms. It’s the key to building flavour and texture in a dish, it also prevents sticking and gives your
food a restaurant-quality look.
Pan-searing is the absolute best way to cook a steak (along with most other meats) and it just so happens to be the easiest. When it comes to cooking steak in a pan, the best candidates for pan-searing are quick-cooking cuts about oneand-a-half inches thick, such as New York strip, rib eye or filet.
To begin, pat the steak dry with paper towels. Any moisture on the exterior of the steak will not allow the steak to brown and achieve the crisp crust. Season the steaks generously (and I mean generously) on both sides with kosher salt
and fresh ground pepper; the seasoning will stick to the surface and help create a delicious crust. Massage it in a little. Turn on your exhaust fan and heat a heavy pan over medium-high heat until it’s VERY hot. The best pans for pan-searing are stainless steel or cast-iron since they can withstand high temperatures. Add just a splash of oil to the pan. You’ll know it’s hot enough when it begins to shimmer and move fluidly around the pan. Carefully set the steak in the pan, releasing it away from you so the oil doesn’t splatter in your direction. It should sizzle. (Use a pan that is large enough that it’s not such a
Patrick
Recipe Rescue
Ultimate Double Baked Potatoes
8 baking potatoes, washed
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 sticks salted butter
1lb bacon, cooked and cut into bits
1 cup sour cream
1 cup old Cheddar or Pepper Jack cheese (or a mix of both), plus more for topping
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
3 green onions, sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Place the potatoes on a baking sheet. Rub them with the canola oil and bake for 1 hour, making sure they’re sufficiently cooked through.
Slice the butter into pats. Place in a large mixing bowl and add the bacon bits and sour cream. Remove the potatoes from the oven. Lower the heat to 350 degrees F.
With a sharp knife, cut each potato in half lengthwise. Scrape out the insides into the mixing bowl, being careful not to tear the shell. Leave a small rim of potato intact for support. Lay the hollowed out potato shells on a baking sheet.
Smash the potatoes into the butter, bacon and sour cream. Add the cheese, milk, seasoned salt, green onions and black pepper to taste and mix together well. (IMPORTANT: If you plan to freeze the twice-baked potatoes, do NOT add the green onions.)
Fill the potato shells with the filling. I like to fill the shells so they look abundant and heaping. Top each potato with a little more grated cheese and pop ‘em in the oven until the potato is warmed through, 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy!
tight fit or the pan will cool and your food will steam instead of sear.) Here is a secret; leave it alone! Avoid the temptation to peek or fiddle or flip repeatedly. The steaks need a few minutes undisturbed to develop a brown crust. (Don’t worry about sticking; the steaks will release easily when they are ready to flip.) Flip the steaks when they release easily and the bottom is a deep-brown color (usually about 3-5 minutes). Continue to cook the steaks for another 3 to 4 minutes on the bottom side for rare or mediumrare. During the last minute of cooking, add a couple tablespoons of butter and a few sprigs of fresh thyme to the pan with the steaks. Continually baste the steaks with the butter and thyme during the last minute of cooking until you transfer them to a cutting board and let rest for about 5 minutes before serving.
Potatoes are the ultimate comfort food whether they’re baked, fried, mashed, au gratin... they belong with a steak! Steak frites may be my all time favorite dish, but while writing this article I’m really craving the ultimate double baked potato to go alongside a perfectly cooked steak. The combination of a good baked potato stuffed with creamy mashed potatoes and all the fixings is hard to resist. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your double baked potato:
• While any potato will work, Russet potatoes are the best. The thick skin holds up well to stuffing and the potato itself is starchy and fluffy which makes for a great mash.
• Mash the potatoes while warm for the best consistency.
• Sour cream and butter along with a splash of cream or milk will add just enough moisture to mash.
• I like to add 1/4 cup spreadable cream cheese (any flavour, herb and garlic is a favorite)
• Don’t overmix because the mash will turn gummy so mix just until fluffy.
• Be sure to leave at least 1/8 to 1/4 of a potato skin so the skins don’t break or crack.
• I always bake a couple extra potatoes in case one of the skins breaks. You also then have extra potatoes for extra filling.
• Add bacon, jalapenos, caramelized onions, crunched potato chips, fresh herbs, green onion, roasted garlic… whatever you want to make your filling your own and exciting!
• Once your potato skins are stuffed, top with some shredded cheese of your choice.
• Stuffed potatoes can be frozen or refrigerated. To bake frozen potatoes, add an extra 15-20 minutes to the baking time.
Think of my recipe as merely a guideline to make these your own!
Traditions in the firehouse that last generations are usually for a reason. Steak, potatoes and the firehouse go together like, well, steak and potatoes! Enjoy my friends, and I look forward to cooking this celebratory meal in my firehouse for many more years to come! Hope you will as well. Eat well and stay safe!
Psychological PPE
By James Rychard
In addition to being a firefighter and R2MR Instructor from the City of Burlington, Ont., James Rychard is an advocate for mental and behavioural health in the fire service, sitting on multiple association committees. He can be reached at jaymzr007@hotmail.com
The price of dysfunctional leadership
Ideeply appreciate and share great leadership lessons when I find them, and some of those recent lessons came from a book I stumbled upon in a bookstore called “It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy,” written by D. Michael Abrashoff, a navy captain. This book is a leadership manifesto of how to deliver high performance. It has everything to do with people, the work environment, and being a leader who does the right thing.
As the former commander of the US Naval Ship Arleigh-Burke class destroyer, USS Benfold, Abrashoff took one of the lowest performing ships in the entire Navy, one riddled with exceptionally low morale and a low retention rate of sailors, to one of the best ships, one winning a prestigious award that dates back to the early 1900s.
Faced with his biggest responsibility — being commander of his own ship — and the fact that he inherited one of the worst performing ones in the entire Navy, Abrashoff knew ‘leadership’ in general needed to change. The traditional ways of doing business were not going to cut it!
The Navy is entrenched with tradition, very similar to the fire service. Sometimes tradition needs to be re-examined to reach a level of excellence. You can order staff to do things, but you cannot order excellence. To develop excellence, you need the right environment. That means the
environment needs to be one that inspires change, not one that rests on the laurels of tradition. For Abrashoff, his recipe was simple: “…invest in your people; create a work environment where you would want your own family to be a part of and fix the things you as a leader would be embarrassed about.” To that end, he needed to engage his sailors and empower them via ownership. When sailors [employees] take ownership because they are respected, there’s more pride for the job being done; this being one of the top reasons to prevent an employee from leaving a company.
A global management consulting company, McKinsey & Company, identified the top five reasons why people leave an organization. They are (in order): Workers felt they were not respected in the workplace; workers felt they were not listened to by management; workers felt lack of support to climb the corporate ladder; workers felt they were not getting the proper training
and workers felt they were not being paid enough.
By taking all those factors into account, Abrashoff knew what he needed to do — focus on the worker (his sailors). Like a ship not being able to turn 180 degrees in one motion, small degree turns are needed to make set the course. Slowly and incrementally, he began to witness changes and progressions on Benfold. In less than two-years time, his retention rate went from eight per cent to 100 per cent, he promoted more staff to higher ranks, helped staff obtain higher education and managed to do it all on 75 per cent of his operating budget.
“Being a leader is not about being liked; it is about driving results,” he wrote. In other words, to reach service excellence, Abrashoff had to apply simple and easy techniques, ones that were unconventional and against Navy traditions. Abrashoff got out from behind his desk and walked the ship. He talked with the sailors, listening aggressively to what
they had to say and began to empower them increasingly with ownership. What these small actions did was build confidence in the crew and encourage others to step forward with ideas as well.
The fire service, like the military, was founded on the traditions of the past. We often hear the infamous trope “two hundred years of tradition, unimpeded by progress.” Must we not only respect our traditions, but cling to them myopically? Some fire departments/ organizations experience high turnover rates coupled with long-term absences due to stress-related health issues and are asked to do more with less under the confines of decreasing operating budgets. Regardless of the changes we are seeing in the fire service, there are variables that leaders can influence and some they cannot.
Famous leadership and business speaker Simon Sinek said that “Great leaders don’t blame the tools they are given. Great leaders work to sharpen them.” Abrashoff’s lessons are vital for organizational success, and they are simple to implement. The fire service is a paramilitary system and what works in the military can be applicable to the fire service. When looking to try and turn a dysfunctional organization into a functional one, consider the leadership style. Working on the simple things is the way to go. By choosing to focus on our staff, which is our most valuable and costly budget item, leaders in turn improve the entire organization.
This column’s leadership lessons come straight from the sea.
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We pondered for a long time why this critical sector has lagged behind when it comes to digitization and automation of processes. We saw the same manual routines, and random inefficient document management everywhere.
– So we decided to do something about it.
Now, we have made professional applications as user-friendly and efficient as entertainment apps. Cubit Fire is an ‘end to end’ solution for fire inspections and related processes. Developed in close cooperation with fire departments.
Cubit Fire integrates with the rest of your eco-system and offers unparalleled user experience and performance.
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