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ROTTERDAM
Focus put on fitness of fire crews
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

   During the blaze that ripped through Philomena Apartments in May, Harry Merriman and his fellow volunteers at the Carman Department found themselves running out of gas.
   Temperatures were in the 80s, and Merriman noticed that many firefighters rotating out of service were spending a lot of time in rehab waiting for heart rates to settle down. Some were spending nearly a half-hour away from the action; others rested longer.
   “Some guys were in there almost an hour,” he recalled.
   For Merriman, the fire was a wake-up about the department: Many volunteers could not handle the heart-pounding stress of a fire call. Now he’s trying to do something about it.
   Merriman, Carman’s recently appointed fitness trainer and a graduate of the University at Albany’s physical education program, is urging volunteers to eat right and use the department’s weight room; the alternative route can be fatal. He now works with about 15 Carman fi refighters and hopes to enlist more.
   “I tell them they need to start taking better care of [themselves] because it’s not just the fire de- partment that needs you,” he said. “Your family needs you, too.”
   In November, Merriman will host Carman’s first annual “firefighter fit club” at the department, which will feature speakers including nutritionists and aerobic instructors. He said a number of departments from the area are expected to attend, including all eight companies from Rotterdam.
   With an increase in the average age of volunteers, physical fitness is becoming a common thread among many area departments. The New England Journal of Medicine found that fi refighters are up to 100 times more likely to suffer a fatal heart attack in service.
   Results from the study conducted between 1994 and 2004 found that 39 percent of deaths among firefighters were attributed to heart disease. Of those deaths, nearly a third occurred while fighting a fire.
   In the Capital Region, the toll has been costly. Albany Firefighter Theodore “Teddy” Abriel, 44, suffered a fatal heart attack after climbing six floors of a high-rise apartment building that had caught fire in February.
   One year earlier, Rensselaer Assistant Fire Chief Michael Falkouski, 59, was headed to an early morning garage explosion during the middle of a snowstorm when he suffered an attack that proved fatal. His death was preceded by Sharon Springs Firefighter Jeffrey Howell, 42, who was stricken as he was getting hose ready to battle a house fire in May 2004.
   The last Schenectady County fi refighter to die in the line of duty was Donald A. Collins, 62, who suffered a heart attack while operating a pumper truck at a city arson fire in April 1996. The death of the 33-year veteran caused Brian U. Stratton, then the City Council’s public safety committee chairman, to question fitness standards in the city fire department.
   Robert Leonard, a spokesman with the state Firemen’s Association, said, “Firefighter health and safety are important, especially in the volunteer fire departments, where people can be called to fires on a minute’s notice from their roles at home or work. The stress is clearly a factor.”
   But fitness also plays a large role, explained Kimberly Ettinger, a spokeswoman for the National Volunteer Fire Council, which represents volunteer fire, emergency medical and rescue services. She said the council is urging more departments to take a hard look at physical fitness.
   “Most of these people have fulltime jobs and they’re fighting fires on their time off,” she said, “Some of them might not have enough time to stay fit.”
   Ettinger said the council is also pressing the issue of fi refighter health at trade conventions across the nation. Over the past four years, the council screened more than 12,000 emergency service members for the precursors of heart disease.
   “Any fi refighter death is unfortunate,” she said. “But when it’s something that can be prevented through better fitness or diet, it’s especially tragic.”

Carman firefighter Duane VanDerwerker, left, does leg squats while being spotted by fellow fi refighter and certified fitness trainer Harry Merriman at the firehouse gym on Tuesday.
ANA N. ZANGRONIZ/ GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER

It is better for them.....go for it guys....

I'm sure that if they can pull themselves away from the tv and perhaps 'pop a few less tops', they would be in better shape. Hopefully this is a start.