Almost every week, we receive a notice of a firefighter fatality from the U.S. Fire Administration. The cause of death frequently is heart attack, statistically the leading cause of death for firefighters. The death of a firefighter is always a sad day, but should these deaths be labeled as line-of-duty deaths?

A law passed by Congress just before Thanksgiving says it should. The Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act says that, as far as the federal government is concerned, heart attack and stroke are job-related risks for firefighters, police and EMS personnel. These deaths now qualify as line-of-duty fatalities, and the surviving families can now draw a one-time death benefit under the federal Public Safety Officers Benefits Program, currently about $268,000. No proof of injury on the job is required.

Two years ago, one of our columnists pointed out that the firefighting profession tends to attract people who live on the edge, also known as adrenalin-junkies. If your job is to go from 0-to-60 in seconds, rise to a 90 and then drop back to 0, it takes a toll on your body. Medical research is proving our whole health system -- physical and mental -- is tied to stress. Does that mean that any disease that targets a weakened immune system (from lack of sleep, exposure to illness in EMS calls, chemicals or burning toxicities) could be considered job-related?

If a firefighter dies from emphysema, isn't that job-related? Shouldn't the PSOB program include those firefighters, too? But if a firefighter is killed in an accident because he was not wearing a seat belt, should he be entitled to the same benefits? There are many hazards to working in this profession.

What's my point? You still need to be proactive in taking care of your health. In this line of work, smoking, alcohol abuse, lack of fitness and not wearing seatbelts only add more hazards to what your body already has to tolerate, adding fuel to the flames.

The December issue of FIRE CHIEF features an interview with state fire marshals. Washington State Fire Marshal Mary Corso emphasizes that people need to be held accountable for their actions. "I think personal responsibility needs to be more in the forefront of the public education that we are doing," Corso said.

And that goes for the fire service itself, too. The Hometown Heroes Act is a big step forward and a good start at recognizing the health hazards of the fire service, but I also believe that people in the fire service need to be responsible for their own health AND safety.

Janet Wilmoth, Editor