Protecting the Health and Performance of Wildland Firefighters
Structural firefighting is strenuous work. If you’re doing it properly, even the 30-40 minutes of exhausting one SCBA cylinder of air before rehabilitation feels like a series of all-out sprints to exhaustion outside on a hot day. Now try to imagine it seemingly without end. That’s what I imagine Wildland Fire Fighting to be like.
According to a recent paper published in the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology entitled Determinants of Health and Performance in Wildland Firefighters: A Narrative Review, I’m probably right. And now the authors understand why.
This paper was a narrative review of research that utilized a “comprehensive keyboard-based search strategy across four major databases.” In other words, they did the work for us. The author’s used ‘snowball sampling’ (essentially using references to find other references), to study physiological, environmental and psychological aspects of performance for Wildland firefighters. The results highlighted three major physiological determinants; carrying heavy loads for extended periods; the additional strain of working in protective clothing, and; the health risks of smoke inhalation and dehydration.
I was especially empathetic toward Wildland Firefighters for risks associated with smoke inhalation and dehydration since structural firefighters seem to have mostly solved this issue with Rehabilitation protocols including water, cooling, and air cylinder changing.
The authors also revealed inadequate sleep and mental stress as both physical and mental determinants of health and performance.
According to the authors, solutions include regular use of physical and psychological assessments to emphasize high levels of physical fitness with personalized programs, mitigate thermal stress, provide adequate hydration, address sleep recovery, and enhance respiratory protection.
You can read the paper at: Determinants of Health and Performance in Wildland Firefighters: A Narrative Review – PMC.
For information about the current wild-land fire situation in Canada, visit the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System of Natural Resources Canada at: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System.
