The LION’s Den induction ceremony was held on Thursday, November 17 in Myrtle Beach and hosted over 500 guests and former competitors of the Firefighter Combat Challenge World’s Competition. LION is the last of the original sponsors actively participating in all World’s competitions. LION has been active in the U.S. FFCC network since its inception 20 years ago. For the 20th anniversary, LION created a commemorative challenge coin for all previous and this year’s 25 LION’s Den inductees.

At the 20th Anniversary Celebration, a special presentation was made to Combat Challenge founder Dr. Scott Davis, who was given a bronze statue on behalf of event sponsors Scott, LION , the staff and competitors.

The Combat Challenge elimination and seeding events themselves were held Monday through Thursday. Friday featured individual and team finals competitions and Saturday saw the tandem and team competitions.

LION helped to sponsor the first-ever live stream broadcast of each and every event during the week. The streaming footage was even mentioned in an MSNBC broadcast, and can be viewed in its entirety here.

“We had numerous calls from all over the country thanking LION for being able to see their loved ones race,” said LION’s Government Relations VP and longtime Challenge supporter John Granby. “One gentleman from Altus, Oklahoma has been racing for 15 years and much of his family had never seen him race before. They were really appreciative of this year’s live stream.”

The streamed broadcasts proved to be very popular with over 700,00 viewer minutes logged and 12,000 unique visitors.

At the LION’s Den, it was also announced the intent to bring the Official Firefighter Combat Challenge back to Canada in the form of a Canadian National Championship. In the following years, they’ll expand the footprint to hit the major markets in the East and West.

Congratulations to John Granby, the other sponsors and to the contestants for a successful 20th anniversary. We look forward to the many exciting Challenges ahead.

For the uninitiate (a person unfamiliar with a specific topic or subject) upon first seeing the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge, the likely question: “What is this and where did it come from?“ Good questions, both.

Back in the dark ages of personnel selection, fire chiefs believed that big(ger) people tended to excel at the avocation. Ergo, there were minimum height and weight standards. No one considered that women would ever want a career in this most male of occupations. Disparate impact was an unfamiliar term in those days. So, in 1975, Chief David Gratz who was the director of fire-rescue service for Montgomery County (MD) and Dr. Leonard Marks paid us a visit at the Sports Medicine Center of the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, Department of Kinesiology. They wanted to know if there was a way to measure what it took to, for example, climb a ladder and chop a hole in a roof. “Sure,” we remarked.

FEMA was still a distant gleam in someone’s eye, but the formation of what would become the National Fire Administration was gaining some traction. This new agency under the Department of Commerce would have money to fund research. A research proposal was cobbled together and submitted with the backing of our US Senator, J. Glen Beall. For the modest sum of $87,216 we embarked on a project that would become the first study to link empirically physical performance constructs with simulated job tasks for structural firefighters.

Read the full blog entry here.

This Sunday marks ten years since 9/11.

It’s a time for remembrance. Nearly 3,000 people were murdered. Each loss creates an unfillable void for family, friends, our fire service and first responder community, and the nation.

It’s a time for reflection. Right after 9/11, as a country, we stood as one. That sense of oneness has looked and felt increasingly fragile over the past two years of economic and political turmoil in our country.

It’s a time for renewed solidarity: to recommit ourselves to a belief in that oneness that we felt so strongly 10 years ago. The challenges we face in each of our communities and in the nation can only be solved through believing in oneness not divisiveness. Divisiveness is what our enemies hope for.

We must also recommit ourselves to the defense of our country – and to its core values. On 9/11, we were attacked by radical Islamist forces not for a specific policy, but for who we are. Remember: in 1993, under a different president from a different party, there was another deadly terror attack on the Twin Towers. It’s America – and what we stand for – that’s the target.

I thank each of our first responders for putting your lives on the line daily to keep our families and communities safe. I hope our nation never experiences anything like 9/11 again, but if we do, know that we as a company are doing everything we can to keep you safe and ready to respond to whatever challenge you face.

Stay Safe.

While Black Helmet founder and Orlando firefighter James Love was thinking about how to bring a line of professional grade products with the Black Helmet look and feel to the fire service, LION CEO and owner Steve Schwartz was simultaneously wondering how to appeal to an even broader range of firefighters by offering them something they would look good and feel comfortable in while still being protected. And it all started with a private message on Facebook that brought the two parties together. From there, the rest is history, and today they announce the first product from Black Helmet Supply produced by LION: An NFPA 1971-certified, American Heritage 9/11 Leather Tribute Helmet with commemorative designs honoring FDNY’s 343 Bravest who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

LION offers more models and styles of turnouts, helmets, uniforms, boots and firefighter accessories than anyone in the industry — and more innovation in each of its PPE product lines. It raises the bar on comfort and mobility from ergonomically designed turnout coat and pants patterns to innovative moisture management technologies for improved safety through its brands including LION Janesville® turnout gear, LION Paul Conway Helmets®, LION StationWear®, LION Technical Footwear® and LION Protective Gloves®.

Black Helmet creates a full line of high-quality clothing, accessories and equipment for firefighters. Founded by third-generation firefighter James Love, all the designs are hand-drawn, and unique. You’ll find no clip art and no cheesy sayings, just images that relay the fearless, but frightening side of the job.

Pre-orders for the 9/11 Leather Tribute Helmet will be accepted soon through Black Helmet’s website at www.blackhelmetsupply.com. Other products in the works for the Black Helmet Supply produced by LION line include suspenders, hoods, fire-resistant T-shirts and gear bags.

For more information about LION, contact Hayley Fudge, LION marketing director, at 937.415.2808 or hfudge@lionprotects.com. For more information about Black Helmet, contact 877.54.SMOKE or info@blackhelmetapparel.com.

Stay in touch with LION and Black Helmet on their Facebook Pages at www.facebook.com/lionconnects and www.facebook.com/blackhelmetgear.

Given the current economic climate, it’s hard to anticipate exactly how local fire departments’ missions will change in the future, if at all. (Although substantial changes are certainly occurring in many places, such as privatization, public safety officers, contracting, outsourcing, etc.)

Depending on the specific jurisdiction and its fiscal situation, it’s likely that some departments will expand their services (probably without additional staffing or equipment), and some will be forced to reduce the range of what they currently provide their communities.

EMS, of course, is likely to be a big part of that discussion, depending on how it is presently delivered and the fire department’s level of engagement, training, and standard of care.

Click here to read the entire article on FireRescue1.

Grammy-winning Cee Lo Green switched up the lyrics to his massively popular “F**k You” single to thank firefighters for their service and dedication:

You can download the song for free if you “Like” the Duracell fan page on Facebook.

Are you competing in this year’s Firefighter Combat Challenge? Do you have what it takes to earn a top spot in the LION’s Den hall of fame? Don’t let anything hold you back — especially your gear.

LION’s V-Force raises the bar for firefighter protective clothing by employing LION Janesville’s innovative V-Fit™ Design. V-Fit takes the best technology from combat and professional sports clothing and applies it to turnout gear. The result is the optimum balance of comfort, mobility and protection.

You can register to win a free set of LION racing gear here, or if you’d like to place an order, you can now download our Combat Challenge Racing Gear Order Form for 2011.

V-Force is the most advanced turnout in the world. See what its bi-swing coat, radial inseam and bellows underarm construction can do to improve your race times. You won’t be disappointed.

Photo by Mike Ong

By Mike Ong
For FirefighterNation.com

Kettlebell History

For this information, I had to refer to our department’s kettlebell subject matter expert, Bob Ross, a 52-year-old firefighter/paramedic who’s been on the Phoenix Fire Department for 27 years. He’s also a Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) certified instructor who rehabilitated himself from back surgery after sustaining an injury in 2003 that could have ended his career. He began using a kettlebell after reading an article about a new exercise program that involved using a “cannonball with a handle.” After two short weeks, Ross’ back felt stronger and less painful. He also noticed that his cardiovascular strength was starting to increase. In 2005, he became certified by the RKC. The RKC was the first kettlebell instructor course offered in the United States, and continues to certify instructors today. I’ve worked with Ross and can attest to his excellent fitness level as well as the applicability and benefits of working out with kettlebells.

According to Ross, the kettlebell is more than 200 years old and was initially used by Russian meat butchers as a counter-weight for their meat scales. Although it’s not certain which butcher was the first to recognize the kettlebell’s potential as an exercise tool, it’s safe to say that the idea caught on and even became popular among Russian strongmen. Eventually, the kettlebell became a tool for training Soviet soldiers, and in particular, the Soviet Special Forces. Pavel Tsatsouline, a physical training instructor for the Soviet Special Forces, introduced the kettlebell to the United States in 2001. Tsatsouline remains one of the most experienced and knowledgeable kettlebell instructors to date.

Key Kettlebell Characteristics

The kettlebell’s functionality and applicability comes from its design and the exercises that can be done with it. The first thing you notice when hoisting a kettlebell is its comfort. The weight hangs in your hand and is easily balanced. This is because the weight of the kettlebell hangs below your grip. It’s this design that allows the kettlebell to be held loosely and rotated or “flipped” in your hand without dropping it when performing movements like the kettlebell swing. You can’t do that with a dumbbell. A dumbbell requires a stationary and firm grip; otherwise you run the risk of dropping it.

Read the full article on FirefighterNation.com.

That there may be a connection between air pollution and sudden cardiac death is not news. What is news, however, is that at least one study has found that “pollution-related cardiac arrests occurred when particulate levels were high but still below the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safety threshold of 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air,” according to a study published in the September 20 online American Journal of Epidemiology. The research was conducted by the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. In a previous column, for example, it was reported that exposure to ultrafine particles during fire suppression should be considered a potential contributing factor for coronary heart disease in firefighters. The study was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Aug. 2010.

The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System study looked at more than 8,000 people who suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in New York City between 2002 and 2006 in relation to air pollution levels during that time. The number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests rose four to 10 percent with each 10 microgram per cubic meter of air increase in small-particle air pollution. The eye-opening finding here, as cited above, was that these cardiac arrests occurred when particulate levels were still below the EPA safety threshold. This study adds to the growing body of research that suggests air pollution is bad for the heart. Earlier this year, the American Heart Association issued a statement noting that evidence is growing that air pollution is a risk factor in heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health, has funded a number of studies on the association between airborne particles, such as sulfur dioxide and other fossil fuel emissions, and the risk of early death from cardiovascular disease. The studies found a strong relationship. One of these studies was the Six Cities Study, conducted in 1974, at Harvard University. It initiated a long-term study on residents of the cities to assess the effects of common air pollutants on respiratory and cardiovascular health. More than 8,000 subjects were studied over a period of 14 to 16 years. The focus was on the health effects of gaseous pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide (the result of coal burning), and fine particle air pollution (that comes from motor vehicle exhaust and power plant emissions). Subjects living in the more polluted cities were found to have a higher risk of hospitalization and early death from pulmonary and heart diseases as compared with those living in the less polluted cities. Fine particle pollution was proven to have a stronger association with mortality than the gaseous pollutants.

In a NIEHS-American Cancer Society-sponsored follow-up study, the cardiovascular effects of fine particle air pollution was assessed in a sample of more than 500,000 people in 50 cities. A strong association between high concentrations of fine particle pollution and increased mortality from cardiopulmonary illness was confirmed. More recent studies have shown that particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter—about 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair—are more harmful to lung tissue than the larger particles.

The ultimate goal of NIEHS-sponsored research on air pollution is to provide regulatory agencies with the scientific data that will enable them to develop national air quality standards that adequately protect the health of U.S. citizens.

Advocacy Note: This sounds promising, but these problems are not always resolved in the favor of humans’ health and well-being. That’s the reason the column brings up “Personal Health Advocacy” often and is calling for a viable voice from the fire service to get our legislators to make human health the overriding concern and issue in these situations. Pick up a newspaper or listen to a news broadcast, and you will find one or more of our “enlightened” legislators calling for silencing the voice of the EPA when it calls for more stringent control of the air we breathe and the water we drink. It has become politically fashionable today to put costs above everything and anything (except for refunding politicians’ election campaigns). They cite the costs of improving air and water quality but never take into account the costs of not doing so. Health costs have been escalating; more people have been diagnosed with pulmonary problems and cardiovascular problems. We cannot take down the cost of healthcare unless we eradicate some of the triggers that are causing the health problems themselves. We are not even addressing the human misery these policies create or other costs such as time lost from work and diminished contributions to communities.

Effects of Environmental Exposures on the Development of Heart Disease

According to Patrick Mastin, Ph.D., acting deputy director of the NIEHS Division of Extramural Research American, the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) makes available funds to expand its support of research to determine which exposures are most dangerous and how they impact human health. He notes: “Evidence indicating a link between exposure to environmental agents, like air pollution and metals, and the development of cardiovascular disease has continued to grow over the last 15 years.”

Results from NIEHS-funded studies have demonstrated, once again, a strong relationship between levels of airborne particles, sulfur dioxide, and other fossil fuel emissions and risk of early death from heart disease. In addition, research has shown that exposure to environmental agents, such as dioxins (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/dioxins/index.cfm) and pesticides (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/pesticides/index.cfm), can contribute to cardiovascular defects.

Among the areas researchers are studying under the Recovery Act are the impact of air pollution on artery hardening in college students,  the relationship between pesticide exposure and cardiovascular disease;  “Clock genes”, environmental challenges, and cardiopulmonary disease  (does the interaction between altered circadian genes and light pollution increase the progression of cardiopulmonary disease in shift workers?); linkages between air pollution and stroke; and how DNA movement and environmental exposures contribute to the hardening of arteries.

New Possible Risk Factor for Heart Disease?

Abnormal heart rate turbulence (how smoothly the heart rate returns to normal after a premature ventricular contraction) is associated with an increased risk of death from heart disease in older individuals who are otherwise considered at low risk for heart disease, according to a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. This study appears in the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology. (February 15).

The study followed 1,272 adults aged 65 and older for about a 14-year period. The study found that subjects considered at low risk for heart disease when rated by the traditional risk factors (age, gender, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and smoking) on average were eight to nine times more likely to die of heart disease if they had abnormal heart rate turbulence values than low-risk subjects who had elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a potential heart disease biomarker. The latter were about 2.5 times more likely to die than those with normal or low CRP.

It is not known yet if abnormal heart rate turbulence can be treated or prevented, but researchers say that findings like these may stimulate interest within the medical community in measuring heart rate turbulence in clinical practice; this type of measurement is not widely available now.

Robin Boineau, M.D., a medical officer in the NHLBI’s Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, sees this study as a possible opportunity to prevent disease as well as predict it, since “it appears that signs of heart rate turbulence are also generally present a year or more before clinical manifestations of heart disease.”

For additional information, see “Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS)” at <https://biolincc.nhlbi.nih.gov/studies/chs/> and “What Are Heart Disease Risk Factors?” at <http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hd/hd_whatare.html> The NIH News Release is available online at <http://www.nih.gov/news/health/feb2011/nhlbi-15.htm>.

Food for Thought: Keep on the Move. More and more studies have indicated that it is more important to be “fit” than to be the ideal weight. We are not talking about obesity, which is a risk factor for many illnesses, but about being mildly overweight. Moving about whenever you can helps to keep you alive, and lack of exercise puts you at a greater risk for mortality than being slightly overweight, some studies have noted.

Make Your Voice Heard: NIOSH Seeks Comment on Emergency Responder Health Monitoring Draft. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH)  “Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance” system proposes a new framework for ensuring responder safety and health by monitoring and conducting surveillance of their health and safety during the entire cycle of emergency response, including the predeployment, deployment, and postdeployment phases of a response, according to NIOSH. The system includes a guidance section describing principles involved in ensuring optimal responder safety and health and tools that can be used to facilitate the execution of their principles during a response. The draft document is available at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docket/review/docket223/. Written public comment will be accepted until April 4, 2011.

A consortium of federal agencies, state health departments, and volunteer organizations, headed by NIOSH, drafted the document. When finalized, it is expected to serve as an interagency resource intended for preview and possible publication by the National Response Team. “The gap in our ability to ensure the safety and health of all workers involved in large-scale and complex emergency responses has been documented through our responses to the World Trade Center disaster, Hurricane Katrina, and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” according to NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “This document is the result of our shared learning from these events and our combined commitment to protect those workers who respond in times of need.”

REMINDER: Be mindful of the risks and dangers posed by the weather. Cold winds, low temperatures, snow, and overexertion can tax the heart. One news item reported that four men died while or immediately after shoveling snow in the Chicago, Illinois, area during the record-making February snowstorms. Although these men were in their 60s, even younger hearts can be affected by such weather and overexertion conditions. Make sure you are in good physical condition (when’s the last time you had a physical and heart evaluation or stress test?) and then use moderation in shoveling snow and other activities in the wintery weather. Don’t get overtired, alternate work intervals with rest periods, stop immediately if you experience shortness of breath or chest pain, and call 911 if you think something is not “right.” It is better to call and find that you do not have a serious problem than not to call and then experience a problem.

As they are every year, the top competitors for 2010 were inducted into the Lion’s Den, the “varsity club” of Combat Challenge competitors.

LION has been a long-term supporter and the official turnout gear and helmet sponsor of the Challenge because we believe in its mission of encouraging firefighter fitness and demonstrating the profession’s rigors in a public way. Wearing full turnout gear and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), competitors race head-to-head as they simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks including climbing the 5-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-sized, 175-lb. “victim” as they race against themselves, their opponent and the clock.

Check out this video of LION Janesville turnout gear in action – and what FFCC competitors have to say about it – at the 2010 Firefighter Combat Challenge World Championships in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last month.