Beat The Heat

[stone35]

The outside temperature is 105, heat index makes it 115. You have a house fire and everyone goes to work. Do you limit exposure time? are extra ambulances called in? do you call out for more help? is the structure worth heat stroke to you firefighters?

Stay Cool and Drink Lots of Water

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Stone35

[HHoffman]

Most of our EMS units will set up rehab for us. Calls for extra alarms for manpower when it gets hot like this.

[Dalmation90]

Ain't no hotter in the fire despite the weather outside http://www.firehouse.com/interactive/boards/smile.gif

Seriously, add extra companies to the response once you realize it's a worker so the troops can have a little longer break, hit the gatorade (I prefer 50/50 water/gatorade followed by lots of water), and sit in an air conditioned apparatus cab or ambulance...break out the smoke ejectors and set the up as fans...

And remind the young bucks that they get to fight more fire if they take a break, take their coat off, take a drink, cool off, and get back to it...then if the he-man it till they collapse and the Chief makes 'em go to the hospital for a checkup.

My personal best at a house fire...10lbs lost via sweat in 1.5 hours...and I wasn't even on the interior at all!

Drink Water...Drink lots of Water!

[Ladder66]

This heat sucks eggs!

We're expecting a heat index of 115 degrees today!! The key is really to stay well hydrated - I'm talkin' lot's of water throughout the entire tour, and no soda.

In regards to calling for additional resouces in this heat, I don't have the luxury of automatic aid so I'm calling for help before I arrive. My reasoning is: "It is better to dispatch and disregard, than never to have dispatched at all". My closest backup companies are 3 & 4 miles away - in this heat I'm not gonna screw around...

Keep it safe out there folks!!!

Mark

[SNOWMAN]

I built a "cool vest" out of a flotation vest. Cut open the front and back and remove the foam. Replace it with gel packs and sew the vest shut again. Put the vest in the freezer and grab it on your next structure call. I wear it under my bunker coat and it doesn't interfere with an SCBA. It adds some additional weight but I find its a good tradeoff for the 45 minutes of cooling that I get!

[DD]

You guys need to fire your secretarys if appointments are being scheduled for fires during this heat!

[BURNSEMS]

HOT HOT HOT, We call second and Third Assist during this weather,, If your initial Attack dont do it and you have to set in for a fight you might want to Rotate your crews,and set up a work rest Cycle Its not worth Loosing a F/F to heat Injury and we start off on the short side to begin with... Utilize your Auxillary if you have one we issued ours Pagers so the can respond with our F/F on all Fires with Ice and Drinks,,,Its going to get worse before it gets better.

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Here today for a Safer Tomorrow