On the evening of Wednesday April 19th the company got together as usual to conduct our weekly drill. While some members were off doing other items of importance, several responders gathered on the basketball court for a test of our physical fitness, how well and how long we can conserve air under a stressful condition and perhaps who had the better jump shot.

The leading cause of death among firefighters in the United States is cardiovascular events such as sudden cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction. It is important that responders take time to make fitness a priority. As stated by the guru's over at Firefighter Functional Fitness, "As a firefighter, your greatest risk for a cardiac event occurs during the time least spent carrying out your duties: structural firefighting activities. The fireground is not the time to realize you are not fit for duty. Prepare accordingly."

Five responders took to the court to test our fitness and to see how long the air in our self contained breathing apparatus would last us. Our breathing cylinders are rated to last us 30 minutes, but in a stressful working scenario and carrying an extra 100 pounds sometimes, the time will be reduced drastically and without training on air conservation or preparing for the event when our air does become low, responders could find themselves in a deadly position. I'm happy to report that we ran out of air before we ran out of steam and all of us need to work on our jump shot.

If you would like to join the Thorndale Volunteer Fire Company, please drop us a line at Recruitment@ThorndaleFireCompany.com or stop in sometime and meet the crew. You will easily find us at the station on Wednesday nights from 7-10.