Most fire and EMS recruits are overweight

I'm shocked.
Remember when State Troopers where not fat and out of shape? What happened? We lowered standards, and why? The Worcester police did away with the wall in their obstalce course..why? Because woman wouldn't even TRY to get over it...

This is pathetic. These guys are suppose to protect us? They should be able to run x amount of miles in x amount of minutes, deadlift and squat x amount of weight, etc. How does a fatty cop chase down a criminal? Or how does a weak or obese fireman lift a 200 lb man when he can barely carry his own weight? Don't get me wrong, I've met some tough cops and fire fighters...But this number of overweight guys is alarming. Seriously, why aren't physical requirements more strict in these fields, when physical work is a defining characteristic? I don't care if you're 20, 30, or even 50. If you're still on the job you should stay in shape because the reality is, it will have a significant effect on your ability to rescue someone.

Whatever happened to the days when the firefighter exam was the most competitive thing going---only perfect scores on the written exam were considered...unless you knew someone. The idea that they even have to consider the obescular is mind boggling. Fat is for cops, not firemen.

so they are woried about heart attacks and stokes of repsponders?
Now since genetics and history play a huge role in both of those, will they bar anyone with a family history of becoming a firefighter as well?
And drinking is even worse, so no drinking off duty for both as well.

So 93% of overwight and 58% of obese passed? Couldn't you put a less negative spin on it?

bmi is not reliable...this system was "invented" around 1840 and is long past its usefullness...numbers are automatically skewed when attempting to categorize taller individuals and does not take it to account bodyfat % which is a much more scientific way of analyzing one's health...i remember evander holyfield in his prime as a heavyweight champ being categorized as "obese" by the bmi index...what a joke...BFD has certainly had it's issues recently but this seems to be leaning towards a witchunt

Are we ever going to get it right in this country....first we cry about discrimination then we dont discriminate....but you get BDC making a news story about it...what a country.

Weight and fitness are not necessarily correlated. I'm 48 yo am 5'10" and weigh 230 lbs. By the BMI index I am obese, yet I can run the 1 1/2 mi course in under 10 minutes, reach past my toes to the line for flexibility, and yes even at 48 still bench more than my weight. I am one of the fittest fat guys out there. At the gym I'm keeping up with and even surpasiing guys half my age. Hell last year I put almost 2500 miles on the bike (yes bicycle). Fitness is the key, if they can pass the fitness test that is more important than weight.

This is a known fact by anyone who has ever watched the TV news. Ten Fatso's trying to take care of one person who fell off their bicycle. I have often wondered why the fire dep't or police dep't has no weight standards. I always assumed it was a union thing. Here in Boston I Know it's a union thing.

Why are people surprised by this? Have you ever NOT seen a fat ambulance driver?

I'm with #6 on this topic. I'm considered obese according to BMI, but have qualified for the Boston Marathon. Just because one is heavy or overweight does not mean one is not fit. It might make one more likely to not be fit, but is not an if / then correlation.

The other thing the article doesn't address is whether the recruits turned into hires.

This article is not about the BFD per se, they have been battered enough this year. The article is stating the recruits being hired may in fact be over weight or obese. MFA has pretty much cut out the physical fitness because it's too hard for some of the recruits. That Is Pathetic. There should be an annual agility test to ensure that some fitness level is maintained throughout the careers of firefighters. This may help save the lives of the firefighters, but it would also help cut down on "on the job" injuries.

You need to read carefully, ". . . 77 percent of CANDIDATES for firefighting and emergency medical technician positions were overweight or obese." The article never states what percentage of these candidates are actually hired, or the weight make-up of those hired. They also fail to mention that passing "the minimum exercise test recommended" is a requirement for civil service firefighters as well as any other career firefighter who plans to attend the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy's recruit training program.

Another example of the Boston Globe choosing to spin some facts to paint our firefighters in a negative light.

If you have any muscle whatsoever you will be considered "overweight" according to BMI. I'd say 25% of the people classified as "overweight" are really fine, and 25% of the people who are called "obese" are really just "overweight". BMI is awful.

This is bad enough for recruits - they should test those already employed. The figure would be 99% or higher obese.

How can you expect them to eat healthy and stay in shape when EMTs and firefighters work 24-36 hour shifts at a time and over 60-80 hours a week just to put food on the table? EMTs are responsible for people's lives and make only a few dollars more per hour than teenagers working at fast food places.

The pay is low, the hours are horrible, and they are all constantly risking injury, illness, death, or losing all they have in a lawsuit... that's why the don't have the time or money to munch salads while they go to a private gym.

I'm sure the numbers among working EMTs and firefighters might not be better, but to do the study on recruits and then extrapolate to say that since recruits are fat, then working EMTs and firefighters might put the public at risk is stupid. It's irresponsible interpretation of data.

This study (which most likely is just a survey of height and weight) could easily have been done on working EMTs and firefighters...so why didn't they? Recruits and candidates often don't make it far. And thus won't put the public at risk. Even the researchers themselves imply this by talking about passing the exercise test.

BMI is a bit too objective sometimes because if weight is muscle, then that's a different case than if the weight is fat.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that all EMTs and firefighters in Boston are fit and trim. I've seen plenty of medics for which I can't understand how they reach past their stomachs and actually do anything without say...putting their stomach fat onto the patient. How can you operate a stretcher when you can't reach it because your stomach is in the way? But these are the people that aren't included in the study, so you can't with more than anecdotal evidence imply that the public is at risk because of overweight or obese EMTs and firefighters.

Most of these comments are from people on the outside of the system looking in, EMS does not get half hour lunch breaks to sit in a cozy lounge and eat their meals. EMS eat most of their meals in the cab of a truck between calls. I'm not sure if you all are aware that ambulances dont have fridges, so food is what we can grab thats quick cause that 10 mins might be the only chance to eat durning the day.
Ems jobs are very differnet from the 9-5 paper pushers, do you think you could be up for 24 hours? I'm not saying that the study is false, but you have to take into account the life style, long hours, VERY low pay for EMS,and the amount of hours that are worked in a week.

Being over wieght doesn't affect your prefomance to medically treat patients, we still have to carry people down 3 flights of stairs everyday. Does that mean that doctors and nurses shouldn't be overweight as well, they deliver patient care just in a differnet enviroment.

Oh and we are NOT ambulance drivers!!!!!!!!

Peter, not only are you right on the money, but there's the biological aspect too.
The maintained hypervigilant state that EMS personnel work in has effects on the body. Constant stimulation into "go mode" stimulates production and release of stress hormones such as cortisol, which signals the body to store fat, specifically in the omentum (the front "beer gut" portion of the belly), and also to binge eat high calorie foods in order to maintain high energy levels. It's a survival mechanism developed thousands of years ago which served a good purpose when humans were running from predatory animals and hunting for food, but now it's actualy harmful and we just haven't adapted yet. What we do in our job stimulates our bodies to be fatter, simply. As you said our inability to just take a break and grab some healthy food compounds this problem. Most of our employers don't give us an opportunity to exercise at work, like with exercise equipment at a station between calls, and many of us work way too many hours in order to make a decent living doing what we do. It's hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle with the restrictions imposed. On my days off, I eat a mostly vegetarian diet, full of fresh organic veggies. I exercise for at least an hour a day, and enjoy outdoor sports and hiking trips when I can get the time off. On my work days though, I only occasionally have time between 12-16 hour shifts to pack some sandwiches and granola bars, but fast food is often the ONLY option to get a meal during my graveyard shift. I honeslty try but it's still hard to keep healthy. Truly we're vicitmizing ourselves by doing what we do, but I can still carry your fat sick grandma down the stairs, so don't ever call me lazy.
Jake, Paramedic