Keeping Junior Firefighters Safe and Healthy: The Fire Department’s Role in Promoting Positive Childhood Experiences

Historically, junior firefighter programs have been an important recruitment and retention tool for the fire service. Also known as “explorers” or “cadets,” junior firefighters range from 14-17 years of age and are part of volunteer, career, and combination (career/volunteer) fire departments. Most states’ child labor laws limit their participation to only fundraising activities, training, or support work at fireground or rescue operations such as rolling up hoselines or providing first aid as directed by medical personnel. Junior firefighter programs provide work-based learning experiences and opportunities which can positively impact young members’ lives, but these programs can also pose risks to members’ safety and health.

NIOSH’s Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) conducts independent investigations of firefighter line-of-duty deaths and recommends ways to prevent deaths and injuries. Since 2000, the program has conducted eight investigations involving junior firefighters aged 14- to 17-years old. Five incidents involved line-of-duty deaths of junior firefighters, while the remaining three focused on the death of an adult firefighter that also involved the injury of a junior firefighter. These eight investigations highlighted two important lessons learned that fire departments can implement to ensure junior firefighter programs minimize risk while supporting adolescent engagement:

• Follow appropriate child labor laws for permitted activities specific to junior firefighters and develop, implement, and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) that reflect their requirements and restrictions.
• Provide junior firefighters with, and ensure the use of, appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Identifying Permitted and Prohibited Activities

In six of the investigation reports, NIOSH addressed the need for fire departments to develop, implement, and enforce SOPs that detail the permitted and prohibited activities specific to junior firefighters including:

• Prohibited activities – such as driving and operating fire apparatus and working within an immediately dangerous to life and health environment.
• Permitted activities – such as responding to a fire alarm in a privately-owned vehicle or riding in fire apparatus driven by adult fire department personnel.

In most of these reports, the fire department did not have written SOPs stating the duty requirements and restrictions for junior firefighters. Fire department personnel should be aware of the requirements, responsibilities, and permitted activities of junior firefighters to help ensure that they are assigned appropriate tasks and closely supervised. Fire departments can refer to multiple sources for information, including those discussed below, about these activities to help develop, implement, and enforce SOPs.

In the U.S., several entities regulate the activities of young workers to help ensure their safety and health. The U.S. Department of Labor’s child labor provisions list the types and places of work that are off-limits for youth under the age of 18 as designated by the Fair Labor Standards Act and its implementing regulations. More specific to the fire service, state laws and regulations specify appropriate activities for junior firefighters. These laws and regulations are often based on a graduated tier system where the higher the age, the more activities allowed (i.e., 16- and 17-year-olds can perform certain tasks that 14- and 15-year-olds cannot).

Additionally, fire departments and emergency services can use documents published by state entities which contain detailed safety and liability information and permitted and prohibited practices to support their junior firefighter programs. Examples of these documents include the Pennsylvania Junior Emergency Service Program Compliance Manual and the West Virginia Fire Commission’s Junior Firefighter Do’s and Don’ts. NIOSH encourages fire departments to check with their local authority having jurisdiction and their state Department of Labor for any and all requirements and restrictions specified under their state child labor laws.

Providing and Ensuring the Use of Appropriate PPE

When participating in training, emergency medical response, and support work at fireground and rescue operations, junior firefighters risk various exposures, injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. PPE is their last line of defense against many exposures when conducting these activities.

In six of the investigation reports involving junior firefighters, NIOSH addressed the need for fire departments to provide junior firefighters with, and ensure the use of, appropriate PPE. These included situations involving failure to use seat belts and responding to and working at a fire alarm without appropriate PPE.

NIOSH encourages fire departments to provide junior firefighters appropriate PPE for their assigned tasks and to ensure proper training on the use and care of their assigned PPE, including its limitations. Additionally, fire departments should consider requiring the use of PPE, including seatbelts.

Promoting Positive Childhood Experiences in the Fire Service

To create positive experiences for junior firefighters, it’s important that fire departments recognize differences between junior and adult firefighters. As adolescents, junior firefighters are experiencing rapid developments in their brain and body at varying rates. These changes may impact their knowledge of their own physical limitations and ability to adequately understand or interpret risks around them. Junior firefighters may also be influenced by their peers’ actions and their desire to help and serve their community. In the face of limited on-scene resources, these factors could influence their decision to engage in prohibited activities and put themselves at risk.

Providing junior firefighters with positive mentors in the fire service can help instill the appropriate level of restraint and discipline necessary to respond to emergencies. Junior firefighters should also remain under the direct supervision (i.e., within speaking and touching distance) of an adult firefighter when performing permitted activities at an emergency scene or elsewhere. The adult firefighters providing supervision should be knowledgeable of what activities are prohibited and what tasks junior firefighters should not be considered for even when facing limited on-scene resources.

Despite the potential risks of participating in a junior firefighter program, it can also have substantial benefit including the ability to engage in experiences that positively impact adolescents’ health and well-being.

Junior firefighter programs provide young members with work-based learning experiences to help shape them into responsible and caring adults. These programs offer members the opportunity to experience how the fire service serves the greater good in the community and many pursue a career as a firefighter or serve in a volunteer fire department. Additionally, they give junior firefighters opportunities to feel a sense of belonging and accomplishment with their fire service peers and mentors, and can help them form positive, lifelong connections.

Fire departments can play a significant role in promoting positive childhood experiences for junior firefighters. Part of this role includes ensuring their safety. Lessons learned from NIOSH’s FFFIPP can help fire departments ensure their youngest members can learn and participate in a safe and healthy environment.

Fire departments should also recognize the time and resource commitment junior firefighter programs require. The National Volunteer Fire Council’s National Junior Firefighter Program and NIOSH’s Young Worker Safety and Health webpages provide additional resources to support the health and safety of junior firefighters.

Share Your Department’s Efforts

If you are interested in adding to this conversation, please consider responding to the following questions in the comment section below:

1. How does your fire department promote positive childhood experiences and educational opportunities for junior firefighters?
2. What is your fire department’s main source of information regarding activities junior firefighters are permitted to engage in?
3. Does your fire department have SOPs that address junior firefighters?

Wesley R. Attwood, Dr.C.J., is a Public Health Advisor in the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory and Public Safety Program.

Meghan Kiederer, B.A., is a Health Communication Specialist within the Research Branch of the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory and is the Communications Coordinator for the NORA Public Safety Sector Council and NIOSH Public Safety Sector Program.

Jeffrey R. Funke is a Team Lead in the NIOSH Division of Safety Research and Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program.

Michael Krzeminski is a Staff Fire Instructor at the Allegheny County Fire Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the developer of the “Managing a Successful Junior Fire Company” curriculum.

KC Elliott, MA, MPH, is an Epidemiologist in the NIOSH Office of Agriculture Safety and Health.

Tammy Schaeffer is a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist in the NIOSH Division of Safety Research and Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program. 

Patrick R. Montague is a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist in the NIOSH Division of Safety Research and Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program.