TOWERING OVER INFERNOS FIGHTING FIRES ISN'T JUST A MATTER OF BEING WILLING - YOU NEED TO BE FIT.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

IMAGINE GOING TO WORK weighted down with nearly 100 extra pounds of clothing and equipment. You need to get to the eighth floor and must take the stairs. Up and down. Several times.

Imagine positioning heavy ladders, wrestling hoses or hauling an unconscious person to safety either single-handedly or on a gurney. Now repeat these tasks several times in the course of a day or evening, sometimes on minimal sleep. Oh, did we mention the excruciating heat and the fact you're carrying the only breathable air in a tank on your back?

For firefighters, physical fitness is - if not a job requirement - certainly an occupational necessity. Otherwise, expect a pulled muscle, a wrenched back or worse. The majority of deaths that occur each year among firefighters are caused not by flame or collapsed building debris, but by heart attack.

`Safer to be in shape'

``It's a very physically demanding profession, and it's not just fighting fires,'' said Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Rick Pearson, who works out of Station 72 in Canoga Park. ``There's a lot of upper-body work and a lot of stretching. We can be asleep at 2 a.m. and, three minutes later, we're lifting 180-pound ladders and 45-pound saws over our heads.''

``A lot of people who come on the job are quite athletic, quite fit,'' says Michael Stefano, a captain with the New York City Fire Department and the author of ``The Firefighter's Workout Book.'' ``It's a lot safer to be in shape.''

Granted, the scenario described above - or, for that matter, the Sept. 11 crisis - is not necessarily an everyday occurrence. But firefighters need to be prepared, in shape and limber when, say, a major structure fire hits.

At California State University, Northridge, graduate students and faculty in the department of kinesiology are working to make sure LAFD firefighters have a way of staying fit.

Under the direction of kinesiology professor Steven Loy, CSUN has crafted - and refined - the LAFD Firefighters in Training program, an exercise and wellness regimen that employees can use during their workday. Currently, the program's centerpiece is its exercise component, but Loy and members of the LAFD Wellness Program eventually hope to introduce elements of weight management and nutrition. Firefighters also undergo quarterly fitness testing.

The aim is not to turn firefighters into marathoners or Mr. Universe candidates, but to make sure these city employees are in shape to do their job. A fitter firefighter means less chance of an on-the-job injury, meaning fewer dollars spent on workers compensation. Loy's research has also studied how certain fitness routines can help firefighters rehabilitate injuries to get them back on the job more quickly.

The program is available in videotape, training manual and poster format, meaning other fire departments can adapt parts or all of LAFD FIT.

Significant potential

``You try to make a difference,'' says Loy, who holds the title of Wellness Program Coordinator within the LAFD. ``I'm working with people who have the potential to affect people around them in the community. To have the potential of touching 3.5 million people by working with a single group is very significant.''

The fitness portion is a combination of 30 minutes of stretching and strength-training exercises combined with 30 minutes of cardiovascular work - such as a run, treadmill or jog. The program is low-cost, low-maintenance and requires no expensive equipment. A research partnership between Loy, CSUN and the manufacturers of Total Gym will enable fire stations throughout the city to receive a Total Gym 24000 - a $1,500 piece of equipment - free of charge.

CSUN professors and graduate students developed the FIT exercises after observing city firefighters in action and studying which muscles were used most in the course of their work. A portion of the workout centers on flexibility since when firefighters are summoned to an emergency they rarely have time to stretch before getting to work.

``(Loy) really understands what works for people,'' says Capt. Debbie Brown, LAFD wellness fitness officer. ``He brings the credibility and the educational background, but also just the practicality to be able to fit things into the fire department. This wasn't some canned program, where they said, 'Hey, this will work.'

``Even the testing they did, where they put the electrical patches on and watched what muscles they used. Why be doing bench presses if nothing in your job really simulates that?''

The firefighter workout

Many of the 24 exercises focus on the shoulders, abdomen, knees and back - all areas susceptible to injury during firefighters' duties. In the workout's original design, firefighters exercised using a pull-up bar, a step bench, simple free weights and a pseudo air pack, which exercisers used during squats. LAFD FIT officials are designing a new manual to use for a Total Gym workout.

Not every firefighter will make use of the workout, but not every firefighter will need to. ``Some are so in tune with their own program, they want to keep their own program up,'' says Brown. ``Those really aren't the people we're worried about. They're the ones who are going to be fit no matter what.''

Others will resist. As in any profession, Brown says, there will be those within the 3,500-member LAFD who will embrace health and nutrition and those who won't. Department top brass may hope that personnel retire from the department at or near the same fitness level they were in as recruits, but that's not always possible.

Or even necessary.

``If you're an assistant or deputy chief, do you really need to maintain that same fitness level? Practically speaking, probably not,'' says Brown. ``But role-model-wise, it makes a difference. You can motivate those people under you to stay in shape when you have hierarchy above you staying fit.''

Brown runs five days a week and does weight training on her off days. Pearson, an engine captain, does report to fires. He uses the FIT exercises as an adjunct to a routine that involves running, mountain biking and weight training.

``I think I'm in better shape than I was before this, and I know my flexibility is improved,'' says Pearson. ``My thing is, I like to set the example. If I'm not working out, how can I expect them to?''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Los Angeles firefighter Carlos Limon runs through a training drill at Fire Station 89 in Valley Village.

(2) Los Angeles firefighter instructor Jorge Iracheta lays hose during a drill at Station 89 in Valley Village.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

(3) Capt. Rick Pearson of Station 72 in Canoga Park tests his lower-back strength at California State University, Northridge.

(4) CSUN graduate student Darrian Robinson, left, and LAFD fitness officer Capt. Debbie Brown, right, measure Capt. Kurt Vosberg of Station 39 in Van Nuys.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer