Firefighter FITNESS: Fit to Serve, Fit for Life

Safety Stand Down 2026 – Planning

Safety Stand Down 2026 takes place June 14-20 with the theme Firefighter FITNESS: Fit to Serve, Fit for Life. Use the below materials to help plan your department’s activities.

How to Participate

Fire and emergency service departments should suspend all non-emergency activities during the week of June 14-20 to focus on training and education relating to this year’s theme – Firefighter FITNESS: Fit to Serve, Fit for Life. Each department can choose how best to implement Safety Stand Down in a way that works for their members and based on their members’ schedules – such as daily activities each day of the week, weekly activities during the month, or establishing a plan to incorporate the topics into training and operations throughout the year. Consider designating a Safety Stand Down Champion to coordinate or facilitate the activities in your department.

Daily focus themes, events, one-pagers, and activity ideas will be provided on this page to help you implement Safety Stand Down. Stay tuned in the coming months for these resources. Find additional resources and training for this year’s topic on the Resources page of this site.

Safety Stand Down Daily Topics

Each day during Safety Stand Down is dedicated to a specific focus area that aligns with this year’s theme. These daily topics are designed to guide your department through key aspects of the theme, encouraging meaningful discussions, training activities, and actionable steps to improve safety, health, and performance.

Sunday: Foundations of Firefighter Fitness

Firefighting places unique physical demands on the body that cannot be met by general fitness alone. This day focuses on the foundational principles of functional fitness that support performance, reduce injury risk, and promote long-term health – strength, endurance, movement quality, and recovery built for the job, not the gym.

Monday: Intentional

Effective training is not about doing more, but about doing what matters most. An intentional approach to firefighter fitness aligns goals, intensity, and programming with baseline fitness, experience, and operational demands – ensuring training is deliberate, evidence-informed, and purpose-driven to support performance today and sustainability over an entire fire service career.

Tuesday: Technique

How firefighters move matters as much as how strong or fit they are. This day focuses on movement quality, biomechanics, and proper exercise execution to improve efficiency, protect joints, and reduce preventable injuries both on the fireground and in training.

Wednesday: Nutrition

Fueling the body appropriately is essential for performance, recovery, and long-term health. This day addresses practical nutrition strategies that support shift work, cardiovascular health, body composition, and readiness – without unnecessary complexity or extremes.

Thursday: Evaluation

Medical screenings and fitness evaluations are tools for awareness and informed decision-making, not a pass/fail judgment. This day highlights medical screening and fitness assessment methods that help identify risk, guide training priorities, and support safe, effective participation in the job over time.

Friday: Strategies

Sustainable performance requires more than workouts alone. This day explores practical strategies – sleep, recovery, workload management, stress mitigation, and support systems – that allow firefighters to train consistently, adapt to the demands of the job, and avoid burnout.

Saturday: Success (long-term)

The goal of firefighter fitness is not short-term results – it’s career longevity, health, and the ability to serve with confidence year after year. This day reinforces the importance of consistency, adaptability, and ownership in building a fitness and wellness approach that supports success across an entire fire service career and sets you up for a fit and pain free retirement.

Safety Stand Down Quiz Sweepstakes

NFPA, in coordination with the IAFC, NVFC, FDSOA, and IAFF, annually hosts an online Safety Stand Down Quiz to reinforce the messages behind the event’s theme. Those who take the quiz will be entered for the chance to win one of 200 limited edition Safety Stand Down challenge coins. Stay tuned for the launch of the quiz in the coming months.

Safety Stand Down Events

Stay tuned for more information.

Daily Theme One-Pagers and Videos

Each day during Safety Stand Down, a specific topic in the FITNESS framework is highlighted. Stay tuned for one-pagers and videos you can share with crews during your Safety Stand Down training to introduce the topic, promote discussion, and prompt action.

Activity Ideas

Looking for ways to get your department involved in Safety Stand Down 2026? Stay tuned for activity ideas to help you engage your team throughout the week.

Articles

Stay tuned for more information.

Submit Your Resources, Stories, and Photos

Click here to share your department’s safety and health resources, media coverage, activities you are planning for Safety Stand Down, and success stories from your department

Safety and Health Training

You can find on-demand training courses relating to this year’s theme on the Resources page of this site. Additional training includes the following:

Future Safety Stand Down Dates

Safety Stand Down is held annually during the third week of June.