Associations between firefighters’ physical activity across multiple shifts of wildfire suppression

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between firefighters’ physical activity levels across consecutive wildfire suppression shifts and to determine whether sleep duration moderated these associations. Forty volunteer firefighters (31 males, 9 females) wore an activity monitor to concurrently measure physical activity and sleep duration. Sedentary time and time spent in light- (LPA), moderate- (MPA), and vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA) during each shift were determined using monitor-specific cut points. During any given shift, every additional 60 min spent in LPA was associated with 7.2 min more LPA and 27.6 min MPA the following shift. There were no other significant positive or negative associations. No significant moderating effect of total sleep time was observed. Firefighters are able to maintain and/or increase their physical activity intensity between consecutive shifts. Further research is needed to understand firefighters pacing and energy conservation strategies during emergency wildfire deployments.

Practitioner Summary: To examine associations between firefighters’ physical activity levels across consecutive shifts during a multi-day emergency wildfire and determine whether sleep duration moderated these associations. Firefighters are able to maintain and/or increase their physical activity intensity between consecutive shifts. No significant moderating effect of total sleep time was observed.

Keywords:

• Firefighting
• occupational health
• actigraphy

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre for providing logistical support for this project. We would like to thank all the firefighters that generously volunteered their time to participate in this research. Dr Nicola D. Ridgers is supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE120101173). We acknowledge Eoin O’Connell for the development of the customised Excel macro.

Disclosure statement

The authors’ have no conflicts of interest to declare.