RESEARCH ARTICLE
Psychophysiological Responses of Firefighters to Emergencies: A Review
Fabrizio Perroni1, *, #, Laura Guidetti3, #, Lamberto Cignitti 2, Carlo Baldari3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 7
First Page: 8
Last Page: 15
Publisher ID: TOSSJ-7-8
DOI: 10.2174/1875399X01407010008
Article History:
Received Date: 30/04/2013Revision Received Date: 01/08/2013
Acceptance Date: 25/08/2013
Electronic publication date: 24/01/2014
Collection year: 2014
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Firefighters perform strenuous muscular works in hazardous environments and chaotic conditions, under time pressure and psychological stress. Various studies have shown high values of oxygen uptake, heart rate, blood lactate concentrations and salivary cortisol and A-Amylase in laboratory test, in real-life and simulated interventions of firefighters. These high values have been attributed to the combined effect of the metabolically active muscle, thermoregulatory strain and fatigue resulting from the protective gear and a self-contained breathing apparatus in addition to further supplementary overweight (i.e., lifting weights, rescuing victims). In order to protect health and safety of firefighters and victims during emergencies, high levels of cardiovascular endurance and strength in firefighters are strongly recommended. In fact, high levels of physical fitness showed to increase firefighters’ work ability, safety and decreased risk of injury.
