Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Firefighters battling 1,000-degree fires in 90-degree heat don’t just get hot; they can get into serious trouble if they can’t cool off fast.
Specialized cooling tents help them cool off and get back on the fire line.
Murrysville Medic One’s rehabilitation tent was set up to assist about 100 firefighters on Wednesday at the scene of an apartment fire in Wilmerding. Paramedic Lt. Jerry Chellman said the tent -- which features cooling chairs, evaporator fans, misting fans and lots of water -- has been called to assist firefighters 200 to 300 times so far this summer.
“We’ve been running our butts off,” Chellman said. “No matter where we go, the firefighters are really excited to see us come in. They’re learning and finding out that it benefits them. They’re not going home and dropping dead or having that stroke.”
Still, despite the rehabilitation measures, six firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion as they battled a blaze that engulfed the three-story building on Airbrake Avenue.
“You can only go 15 minutes or so, and you’re done for,” said Wilmerding fire Chief Tom Hartzell. “You have to rotate continuously, so we utilized a lot of manpower.”
Murrysville’s rehab tents and others like it are there for good reason. After 20 minutes of sustained work in a fire, a firefighter’s core body temperature can be as high as 103 degrees, with a heart rate between 160 to 190 beats per minute, said Dave Hostler, director of the Emergency Responder Human Performance Lab at the University of Pittsburgh. Firefighters also can sweat out a liter of water in 20 minutes.
“You need rest, you need to rehydrate or replace the body water, and in the process you need to allow your core temperature to start to return to normal,” Hostler said. “Once you’re that hot, it will be the better part of a day until you truly return to a baseline temperature.”
One of the best ways to bring down body temperature is submerging forearms in cool water, Hostler said. This quickly cools blood that is then circulated through the body to dissipate the heat.
“The goal is to get you good enough to get back to work, so you’re not in danger of heat illness or worse, and you can still perform effectively,” Hostler said.
The heat wave makes it harder for firefighters to rehab once they get out of the flames.
“On a day like today (Thursday) when they come out of the thousand-or-so-degree fire, they’re walking into something that’s still a heat index of 105 degrees,” said Steve Kline, operational supervisor of Ross/West View EMS. “It doesn’t allow them to cool off.”
Ross/West View EMS uses easy-up tents for shade, fans, plenty of water and cooling chairs to bring down body temperature. Elizabeth Township Area EMS also has a rehab tent with air conditioning units and other features it makes available to departments in the area.
Firefighters rehabbing in Murrysville’s tents relax in chairs with arm pouches filled with cool water. Evaporator fans blow in cool air while other fans blow misted water to them. They drink bottled water and eat freeze pops as they rest until medics pronounce them ready to return. The freeze pops in particular are a hit with firefighters, Chellman said.
“Everybody loves them. They think we’re getting Popsicles, but it’s actually doing the job of bringing their temperature down and giving them the energy to go back,” Chellman said.
The rehab is vital, said Chris Dell, chief of Elizabeth Township Area EMS. Dell has participated in studies with the Pitt lab that show the toll firefighting can take on the body.
“In 20 minutes of active, interior firefighting in a controlled situation, I lost three pounds,” Dell said. “That should give you a good idea of why this is important.”
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