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"Fire departments across the nation are developing and implementing
physical training programs and finding that they are effectively combating heart disease, declining fitness levels, job-related
disability, and rising injury rates. Education is the first step in providing firefighters with the tools they need to attain
and maintain sufficient levels of physical fitness. The fire service is in need of employees who are fit for duty to ensure
adequate protection of the communities they serve."
-- Physical Training and Health Promotion for Firefighters
Physical Health & Fitness Resources
Fired Up For Fitness Challenge
Firefighter Fit
Firefighter/Law Enforcement Strength Page
FireFightersWorkout.com
Firejock
Fit to Survive
NVFC Health and Wellness Guide for the Volunteer Fire Service
Strengthcats Firefighter Strength & Fitness Information
Combat Challenges & Other Physical Competitions
Firefighter Combat Challenge
Firefit of Canada
Police & Fire Games
World Firefighters Games
Mental Health & Fitness (Critical Incident Stress Management)
The mental health of emergency
services personnel has gained increasing attention in recent years, and of course the events of September 11 only underscored the need for such attention. Chief among the approaches that have
been developed is Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM).
For
the counselor, several published resources are available, among them:
Angela Hetherington, The Use of
Counseling Skills in Emergency Services: Working with Trauma
(Open Univ. Press 2001).
John J. Miletich, Police, Firefighter,
and Paramedic Stress: An Annotated Bibliography (Greenwood Pub.
Group 1990).
Jeffrey T. Mitchell & George S.
Everly, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing: An Operations Manual
for CISD, Defusing and Other Group Crisis Intervention Services
(Chevron Pub. Corp., 3rd ed. 2001).
Douglas Paton & John M. Violanti,
Traumatic Stress in Critical Occupations: Recognition, Consequences,
and Treatment (Charles C. Thomas Pub. Ltd. 1997).
For both the counselor and the emergency services worker, there
are also several excellent resources on the internet, including the following:
FDNY Counseling Service Unit
Firefighter Ministries, Inc.
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
Paramedic.com Stress Research
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