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IntoductonThe feasibility of abolishing mandatory retirement ages in public safety occupations is being studied under US congressional mandate. One suggestion has been to replace mandatory retirement ages with minimum standards for health and physical fitness.1 Before serious discussion regarding developing and implementing standards can begin, the impact of those standards on the current work force must be known. Therefore, we conducted a descriptive case study of a large municipal fire department (approximately 5000 uniformed personnel) in order to (1) describe differences across age groups in selected measures of physical fitness and health using a cross-sectional design and (2)