Lieutenant suffers fatal heart attack during fire operations - Pennsylvania.
Authors
Baldwin T; Hales T
Source
Cincinnati, OH: 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 F2009-29, 2010 Mar; :1-13
On October 24, 2009, a 41-year-old male volunteer lieutenant (LT) responded to a reported residential fire with possible entrapment. At the scene, the LT assisted in stretching a 2-inch hoseline and participated in extinguishing the fire. After about 16 minutes, the water supply ran low, and crews took a break. The LT complained of a headache as he climbed into his engine's cab. The on-scene ambulance crew found the LT in the cab sweating heavily, complaining of tightness in his chest and shortness of breath. The LT became semiconscious and was helped to the ground and then carried to the ambulance. The cardiac monitor showed changes diagnostic of a heart attack. While en route to the hospital's emergency department (ED), the LT's condition worsened and, as the ambulance arrived at the ED, the LT suffered cardiac arrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support were begun and continued in the ED for over an hour until the ED physician pronounced him dead. The death certificate and the autopsy listed "severe atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) and hypertensive cardiomyopathy" as the cause of death. Given the LT's severe underlying CAD, NIOSH investigators concluded that the physical exertion involved in responding to the call, stretching the fire hose, and extinguishing the fire triggered a heart attack and sudden cardiac death. NIOSH investigators offer the following recommendations to address general safety and health issues. 1. Provide preplacement and annual medical evaluations to all fire fighters. 2. Perform a preplacement and an annual physical performance (physical ability) evaluation. 3. Ensure fire fighters are cleared for return to duty by a physician knowledgeable about the physical demands of fire fighting, the personal protective equipment used by fire fighters, and the various components of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1582. 4. Phase in a comprehensive wellness and fitness program for fire fighters. 5. Provide fire fighters with medical clearance to wear a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). 6. Conduct annual respirator fit testing.
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.