Where There’s Smoke....

   We all know that the three big killers of firefighters are heart attacks, cancer and suicide. Knowing what kills us is one thing, knowing what to do about it is another, more important issue. If we keep doing the same thing over and over again, we generally get the same result - so this is the time for a wake up call and a cultural change in the fire service. Keeping everyone alive is our goal. Will we ever get to the point that we have no line of duty deaths - probably not - firefighting is an inherently dangerous business, but if a change in the way we do things can save just one life, let’s make that change. I will add here that firefighters, both career and volunteer, die in essentially the same percentages in these three categories so this is an issue for all firefighters regardless of whether they get a paycheck or not. The Kansas State Firefighters Association is a member of the National Volunteer Council and much of what I will mention in this article comes from the NVFC but they are all things that the KSFFA is a part of as well. 

   Let’s talk first about heart health for firefighters. We know from studying dozens of firefighter autopsies, that the key to heart health is eating right and making sure on incidents that we are hydrating our crews. Eating right is the first step and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has taken the lead on this front. Check out www.nvfc.org and click on the programs button at the top to be connected with all sorts of information on our Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program. At that link you will find resource guides, information on establishing wellness programs along with all sorts of videos and circuits plus heart healthy recipes. Also make sure to check out the partnership between the NVFC and Anheuser Busch (A/B). A/B has provided nearly ten million cans of drinking water to fire departments across the nation. A ready supply of water, taken to the incident scene where firefighters can hydrate, can make all the difference in the world. This has to be a priority for the fire service - making our firefighters heart healthy! 

   Cancer is one of the leading causes of firefighter deaths. Make sure you check out the lavender ribbon report. The best way to find this report and the update is to go to www.nvfc.org and type in Lavender in the search bar. This report, full of best practices, was a joint effort between the NVFC and the Volunteer and Combination Officer Section at the IAFC. The report, if you haven’t seen it, is just an amazing resource. There are 11 best practices highlighted in the report. Can you do all 11? If you can’t then do 5 or do 9 - anything will help avoid the dreaded cancer. This might be your own life that you save. Many of us have watched loved ones go through the cancer battle. It is not pretty. One of my good friends, Kansas City Kansas Fire Captain Steve Miller, died of skin cancer. Skin cancer is not the type of cancer that we think of as being fatal, but it can be. Some types of cancer are hundreds of percents higher for firefighters than for the general public. Why is this? Probably because we are not wearing our gear when we need to be wearing our gear, and not keeping our gear and skin clean, and not getting early cancer screenings. This, again, is about changing our culture. There is no reason for a firefighter to die from occupational cancer. If we follow these best practices, we may not save everyone but one firefighter dying from cancer is one too many. 

   Suicide rounds out our top 3 killers for people in our profession. We have heard time and again about how our brave men and women who serve our country in the armed forces, come back to little help, have seen too much, and decide to end it all. What the public - and much of the fire service - doesn’t realize is how prevalent suicides are in our industry. It happens all too often. Why? We see so many things that no human being should have to see. In the smaller communities the people that we provide service to are often our friends, neighbors and family. That adds an extra element to the mental strain on our first responders. Too often the admonition is just to be tough, but too often it is not just one incident; it is an accumulation of incidents that, over a lifetime, lead to real injury to the brain. These are not syndromes, they are injuries and need to be treated as such. We may not be able to prevent every heart attack or cancer death, but there is absolutely no reason that we can’t eliminate suicides. Check out the behavioral health resources at www.nvfc.org There you will find a wealth of information and resources to keep the minds of our firefighters as healthy as the rest of their bodies. There are so many resources out there to help, but let’s be proactive instead of reactive. Instead of only putting emphasis on mental health after an incident, let’s give our firefighters the tools they need to be prepared for what they may encounter and how to handle those situations. I will tell you that involving the firefighter families in this information pool is critical - before something happens. Family members are likely to be the best and first defense because they will see changes in the firefighter’s mental health at an early stage. 

   There you have it - the three big killers of firefighters. We identified the problem, now it is up to the fire service to respond to keep our crews alive. Most of us have really great insurance programs that include life insurance, but that insurance is a poor replacement for having a mom or dad, or spouse or child alive. When it all comes down to it, what I mean to say is this is not just for our firefighters - it is for their families. I would like to never attend another line of duty funeral. I want to attend funerals for old firefighters who have retired after giving their best to their community - helping out their neighbors in their time of need. I want to watch them grow old without having to deal with these three situations. God Bless each of you as you go about your duties each and every day and may HE watch over you and your families as you work at the greatest job - having the greatest title one could have - FIREFIGHTER! Because where there’s smoke...