Making The Connection Between Science and Firefighting Safety

By: Sabrina Pirillo

THERE ARE LINKS BETWEEN FIREFIGHTERS AND A COMMUNITY OF PROFESSIONALS CONDUCTING RESEARCH TO HELP BRIDGE THE GAP IN COMMUNICATION –THEIR NAMES ARE JAHNKE AND THE SCIENCE ALLIANCE

Dr. Sara A Jahnke is the Director and a Senior Scientist with the Center for Fire, Rescue & EMS Health Research within NDRI-USA, Inc., where she also serves as the Chief Operating Officer. With over a decade of research experience on firefighters, she has been the Principal Investigator on several national studies focusing on a range of health concerns including the health of women firefighters, behavioral health, risk of injury, cancer, cardiovascular risk factors, and substance use with funding from FEMA, the National Institutes of Health and other foundations.

Jahnke’s credentials feature impressive accolades and contributions to organizations such as the International Association of Fire Chiefs (which gave her both the President’s Award for Excellence in Fire Service Research and the Chair’s Award for Excellence in Research, Safety, Health & Survival). She completed the American Heart Association’s Fellowship in Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology.

Jahnke is also on the board of Science to the Station: A Health & Wellness Alliance (aka The Science Alliance) — a community of scientists, health care, and fire service professionals dedicated to providing the critical information needed to improve the safety and health of firefighters and other first responders. These experts are often disconnected from active firefighters. Jahnke’s goal as the driving force behind the Fire Science Alliance is to bridge this gap by introducing firefighters to this extraordinary group of people.

Her passion began close to home with her dad playing a big role in why she began her research. “I grew up around fire service. My dad retired as a fire chief after a dozen years in Overland Park, Kansas. When the CDC came up with a report about the leading cause of on duty death being cardiovascular related, it was right around the same time that my dad had a second heart attack. For me, it was personal.” She began her research with the people she grew up with in Kansas City. Her dad is still her motivation for what she does, but it is also the team of people who surround her at the Alliance who would be there at a moment’s notice, just like family would.

“ FOR ME, IT WAS PERSONAL. “

Being a female in this industry allows the vulnerability of connecting with her to flow easily. “In some ways, I think it's an advantage. It seems less scary to people when I come into a room because I am female. When I start asking questions that are on the behavioral health stuff, I think people feel a little bit freer to talk to me. You must be very well-informed not to be dismissed but I think it helps me, almost like it disarms people to let me in the door, knowing I’m friendly,” she says.

Jahnke’s research has also outlined differences regarding the health behaviors between men and women. In a recent study done by Jahnke and her team, a project funded by the National Institute of Health looked at women in the fire service. Symptoms like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress were higher in females compared to men. The data revealed women were higher in these concerns due to elevated discrimination and harassment. “I keep trying to tell people it is not an HR issue. This isn't a health and safety issue. This is a psychological safety issue.” Although there are some differences, Jahnke sees the similarities, too. “The service is so lucky. They really have camaraderie and being part of something bigger is what keeps them as sane as they are. To have that ability to joke and to be able to pack away the dark things even when they've seen everyone's worst day, you know, it’s a special gift.”

Jahnke’s goals with the Science Alliance are twofold: she would like to have an impact that can improve people's lives. And, she’d like to build a collaboration of networks and improved communication between the two.

As she puts it, “This health and wellness Alliance was based out of a Covid project that had the team looking at what the fire service needed. Who were the trusted voices and experts that firefighters would go to? This project re-awakened the need for that and the fire service.”

Jahnke and the team developed a membership-driven organization where they currently have about 1,200 members so far. “We were recently at an occupational health conference. We have about 125 occupational health providers, because there's not an official network of them. Folks who are doing behavioral health, folks who are interested in women. We have a workgroup on cancer, a workgroup on cardiovascular disease, a workgroup on sleep. The goal is to create a network of people that are interested in firefighter health and wellness.”

Jahnke says the Fire Department Safety Officers’ Organization does a great job on incident safety, but as far as all these other concerns go, everyone's kind of “doing their own thing”. The goal is to get people talking to each other. “My life career goal is to really support building these networks and the fire service in a way that there's more communication, that there's amplification of all the really amazing things going on.”

Jahnke is seeing more departments putting a focus on health and wellness, including taking part in more annual medical exams than ever before. "Being a firefighter will always involve risk, but the technology that exists now will help ensure that fires are fought more safely."

So how can the firefighting industry assist the Alliance? It can stay informed about the research that’s being done and take the time to understand what that research means. Jahnke sees it as important to be engaged and not to be afraid to ask the necessary questions to help understand the science. The results that are coming out do have an impact on the day-to-day.

“IAFF put all this work into reducing the stigma around mental health issues — and it's working. The conversations that are now transpiring are how do we make sure we have enough therapists when someone needs one.” says Jahnke. The Science Alliance also has a FEMA-funded project on disaster response. One part looks at how to respond to a disaster in order to track exposures on the impact. The other piece is how to support the behavioral health of folks who are really seeing these once-in-a-lifetime horrible events. These important conversations with the Science Alliance are about making sure that people are taken care of during and after an event.

If Jahnke had one take away on her research it would be that the greatest strength people can have is being in this together. “Our greatest strength is each other in the fire service.” But bridging the gap between experts and firefighters begins with firefighters.

“ OUR GREATEST STRENGTH IS EACH OTHER IN THE FIRE SERVICE. ”

Having Sara Jahnke featured on the cover of CRACKYL Magazine is a feat for the industry. It recognizes the hard work and dedication of this community and brings to light what science has proven - and where it's headed. And it all stems from relationships and the organizations like the Fire Science Alliance that complete the link.