Firefighters Asked to Chill

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh spent Tuesday heating up firefighters and cooling them down again. Teams of four firefighters were sent into one of the simulation buildings at the county fire academy in North Park and then were asked to sit and cool down in one of three ways. Some were asked to wear a water-cooled vest, others sat in lawn chairs with bags of cool water where the arm rests would normally be and others simply sat in an air-conditioned trailer. All the time their vitals were being monitored. Pitt Researcher Joe Suyama says speed of cooling is key but other factors need to be considered. He says firefighters need to be open to using the device and it has to fit into the budgets of different sized fire companies. He says jumping into a pool of cold water may work but it will not be comfortable, firefighters won’t do it and it is not practical.
The goal of the study is to learn how to prevent dehydration, heat stroke and even heart attacks. The core temperature of some firefighters can be as high as 104 degrees when they leave a burning building. Participants were asked to swallow a “pill” that monitored their internal temperatures. Researchers could read that data simply by placing an RF device near the participant's stomach. Pittsburgh firefighter Ed Fiejdasz had a core temperature of 100.4 after the burn and was asked to sit in the modified lawn chair. He says it seems to help but he is not sure he would use it at the scene of a fire. He says there is too much work to be done but he thinks it would be refreshing back at the station. Pittsburgh Firefighter Ralph Browning wore the vest. He says it was cool at first but then, “it just fells like I’m wearing a vest.” He says at many fires at least one firefighter needs to get treatment for heat related problems. He says he would use a cooling device if it allowed him to get back into the fire sooner.
Researches will crunch the data over the coming weeks and will issue recommendations. Suyama says they will make a range of recommendations to be used depending on a department's budget restrictions.
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