Fire fighter suffers fatal heart attack after returning home from fire - Iowa.
Authors
Singal M
Source
Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE F2001-30, 2002 Mar; :1-10
On April 2, 2001, a 38-year-old male volunteer fire fighter was driving to work after returning home from a structural fire. He apparently passed out at an intersection, and his vehicle rolled across the road and into a fence. Police arrived approximately 3 minutes later, and the fire department and ambulance followed shortly. Despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) performed at the scene, in the ambulance, and at the hospital emergency department, and additional procedures in the hospital's cardiac catheterization laboratory, the fire fighter died. Based on autopsy findings, the death certificate, completed by the Medical Examiner, listed "Acute Myocardial Infarction" as the immediate cause of death and "Severe Arteriosclerotic Coronary Vascular Disease - Right Coronary Artery" as the underlying cause. The following recommendations address some general health and safety issues identified during this investigation. This list includes some preventive measures that have been recommended by other agencies to reduce the risk of on-the-job heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest among fire fighters. These selected recommendations have not been evaluated by NIOSH, but are derived from published research, consensus votes of technical committees of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), or reports from fire service labor/management groups. Expand the periodic medical evaluation program to conform to the recommendations of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 1582, Standard on Medical Requirements for Fire Fighters and Information for Fire Department Physicians. Depending on the fire fighter's age and coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors, this program should incorporate exercise stress test (EST). The medical decision regarding an ill or injured fire fighter returning to duty should be made by the physician providing occupational health services for the Fire Department. Phase in a mandatory wellness/fitness program for fire fighters to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.