The relationship between firefighters’ physical performance characteristics and simulated firefighting demands

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 63 - 75, 30.06.2019

Mckayla Schmit Mark Debeliso

https://doi.org/10.31459/turkjkin.560623

Cited By: 10

Abstract

Prior research indicates
firefighting to be a demanding and hazardous profession that places tremendous
amounts of stress on the body, both physically and mentally. Likewise, degraded
fitness levels can affect the firefighter’s (FF) ability to execute rescue
tasks efficiently and places the imperiled and FF at risk for injury or death. The
current study examined the relationship between physical fitness tests (PFT)
and Simulated Fire Ground Test (SFGT) performance among active FF.  Twenty (n=20) male career FF (age 37.8±8.4
years, height 182.1±7.0 cm, body mass 95.6±8.9 kg) were assessed for PFT and
the SFGT. The PFT assessments included: maximum grip strength (GS), 3-minute
step test, vertical jump (VJ), 1-RM back squat (BS), and 1-RM bench press (BP).
The SFGT was composed of: stair climb with hose bundle (SC), 30m charged hose
advance (CHA), and 30m dummy drag (DD). The SFGT demands were completed in full
PPE (personal protective equipment) gear and pack. SFGT scores were then compared
to the PFT scores with Pearson correlation coefficients (r). Grip strength
demonstrated a negative moderate (r=-0.49: p<0.05) relationship with the
time to complete the CHA, a high negative relationship with the SC times
(r=-0.61: p<0.05), a high negative relationship with the DD times (r=-0.70:
p<0.05), and a high negative relationship the total time to complete all
tasks (r=-0.64: p<0.05). Heart rate response, measured as %HR_max
following the step test demonstrated a positive moderate relationship with the
time to complete the SC (r=0.51: p<0.05), CHA (r=0.52: p<0.05), and the
total time to complete all tasks (r=0.50: p<0.05); and a positive low
(r=0.38: p<0.05) relationship with the time to complete the DD. The BP 1-RM
demonstrated a negative high relationship with the time to complete the SC
(r=-0.79: p<0.05) and CHA (r=-0.79: p<0.05); and a negative very high relationship
with the time to complete the DD (r=-0.80: p<0.05) and the total time to
complete all tasks (r=-0.82: p<0.05). The SQ 1-RM demonstrated a negative
moderate (r=-0.52: p<0.05) relationship with the time to complete the CHA;
and a negative high relationship with the time to complete the SC (r=-0.70:
p<0.05), DD (r=-0.68: p<0.05), and the total time to complete all tasks
(r=-0.70: p<0.05) (p<0.05). The VJ scores demonstrated a negative
moderate (r=-0.49: p<0.05) relationship with the time to complete the CHA;
and a negative high relationship with the time to complete the SC (r=-0.67:
p<0.05), DD (r=-0.60: p<0.05), and the total time to complete all tasks
(r=-0.66: p<0.05). Peak power relative to body mass demonstrated a negative
moderate relationship with the time to complete the SC (r=-0.55: p<0.05), DD
(r=-0.42: p<0.05), and the total time to complete all tasks (r=-0.52:
p<0.05); and a negative low non-significant relationship with the time to
complete the CHA (r=-0.30: p>0.05). Age did not demonstrate a significant
relationship with performance on any of the SGFT assessments (p>0.05). Within
the parameters of this study, FF’s exhibited a moderate to very high
relationship between PFT and the execution of simulated firefighting demands.

Keywords

Firefighter, firefighting demands, physical fitness

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