By Corinthia McCoy
Courtesy of the Green Bay Press-Gazette

Heart attacks are a common cause of death among firefighters, but the Green Bay Fire Department has not lost one of its firefighters to a heart attack.

It's among a number of area agencies that makes an effort to keep its firefighters in shape.

Green Bay firefighters have access to fitness equipment at each station, and the Allouez Fire Department offers incentives for physical fitness as national figures show firefighters are more likely to die of heart attacks than severe burns or smoke inhalation. In late 2008, heart attacks were the second leading cause of death, behind trauma.

A provisional report by the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said 41 of 106 firefighters who died between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30 suffered fatal heart attacks within 24 hours of performing a stressful or strenuous activity, including fighting a fire.

It was the leading cause of death in 2007 claiming 52 of the 118 lives lost, said the report "U.S. Fire Administration Firefighter Fatalities in 2007."

Multiple factors can contribute to the strain on the heart including the weight of equipment worn and carried by firefighters; the adrenaline rush felt at the sound of an alarm; and environmental factors such as weather.

"You're easily talking probably close to 120 pounds, 150 pounds of extra stuff between the gear they're wearing and the equipment they have to carry up the stairs," said Rob Goplin, assistant Green Bay Fire Department chief and former training division chief.

Green Bay firefighters are required to have an annual physical and health risk assessment. A nutritionist has offered suggestions for healthful eating and cooking, and the department is taking steps to incorporate a national fitness initiative geared toward firefighters. "Those are the kinds of things that you try to bring in and foster and get out to the people," Goplin said.

The Allouez Fire Department also promotes healthful living and has pay-based incentives for firefighters who are able to pass physical tests, said Allouez Capt. Ed Piontek, who has been with the department for 27 years.

But not much is required at the department. Paid-on-call firefighters are required to get only one physical before joining the department. "Nothing's mandatory, not that it hasn't been brought up over the years I've been here," Piontek said.

The Allouez department also takes precautions at major fire scenes by allowing firefighters to take 10- to 15-minute breaks to get checked out and lower heart rates. The Green Bay Fire Department follows a similar model.

"It's almost like being in a football game. You're tired, the coach will put someone in the game while you rest," Piontek said.

Help from the Bellevue Fire Department's added manpower makes it possible for them to have such rotations, he said.

Green Bay Fire Department Lt. Nick Craig said heart attacks weren't "considered a line of duty death, just a hazard associated with the job." The department's records do not reflect a death of a firefighter because of a heart attack.

The U.S. Fire Administration puts firefighter deaths in two categories - natures and causes.

The nature of death is the medical cause; heart attacks fall under that category.

The cause of death refers to the action, lack of action or circumstances that resulted directly in the fatal injury. That covers stress and overexertion, which account for 40.6 percent or 39 firefighter deaths and caused 52 of the 55 fatal heart attacks last year.

"All of that (factors) has a major impact on your cardiovascular system, so it's not a surprise to see overexertion, strain, things like that being the No. 1 mechanism of injury and leading to cardiac arrest and heart attack," Goplin said.