Physical fitness profile of a large urban fire department: Exploring age and rank dynamics

Background Firefighter physical fitness (PF) plays a crucial role in mitigating health issues and supporting occupational performance. The influence of rank on firefighter PF remains understudied and previous research is often limited by small sample sizes of firefighters volunteering for research studies, potentially biasing results towards fitter firefighters not representative of entire departments. Objective To examine the PF profile of firefighters in a large urban fire department and the influence of age and rank on PF. Methods Data, including muscular fitness, estimated aerobic capacity (VO2max), and body fat percentage (BF%) measures from 1361 firefighters (90% male; age: 37.4±10.1yrs; 60 recruits, 973 firefighters, 290 lieutenants/captains, 38 chiefs) were analyzed. Correlation and ANCOVAs were conducted to examine the impact of rank on PF while controlling for age. Score distributions were scrutinized to profile the PF of the department. Results Age was negatively associated with pull-ups (r = - 0.39), sit-ups (r = - 0.39), and push-ups (r = - 0.32), but positively associated with relative VO2max (r = 0.17) and BF% (r = 0.39). Rank had a statistically significant, but trivial effect size, on pull-ups (p = 0.028, η2 = 0.007) and sit-ups (p = 0.034, η2 = 0.005). Firefighters with lower PF levels were older, had higher BF%, lower fat-free mass, and were a greater proportion of females. Conclusions Firefighters exhibited diverse levels of PF. Age, not rank, appeared to influence firefighters' PF. The findings that firefighters who were older, female, with poorer body composition are more likely to have lower PF levels highlights the need for individualized PF training to enhance occupational performance and health across the fire department.