Beatin’ the Heat

Simple steps to ensure you don’t wind up battling heat stress rather than the fire

Summer arrived early in Texas this year, with our first 100-plus-degree day coming in the first half of June (I know you Arizona and Nevada firefighters already had your summer by then, but that’s a dry heat …).

Hyperthermia and dehydration are always present on the fireground, and they can be life threatening. It’s important to not be the tough guy or gal. You must rehab/rehydrate early and often on these hot days. Several options are available to help us with this.

A few years ago, my department made the switch from jugged water and sports drinks to the bottled variety, and we saw a decrease in heat stress. I attribute this to the fact that personnel can keep a bottle of their water or sports drink with them and drink it whenever, as opposed to a small cup that spills easy, and doesn’t keep well.

A shaded rehab area that includes a fan (preferably with a misting system) is a given. Your local big box hardware store also has misting kits that you could clip into a tree or on a portable shelter; hook it to a neighbor’s garden hose (if you don’t have an adapter for this on your apparatus), and you have a misted rehab area.

ICs or rehab officers, don’t be shy in asking the neighbors if you can use their garage or carport for a rehab area. Some will even open their homes for “potty breaks” for the troops. Be sure to enforce the “no turnouts in the house” rule in this case. And clean up your mess. Consider a “thank you” note, too.

Finally, you must be smart and tough enough to say “time-out” before you run out of energy. As heat stress and dehydration set in, you become disoriented—losing situational awareness. You get weaker—becoming the weak link in the chain, unable to carry your load, much less your share of the load. You become a liability to your crew and to the incident in general.

Remember the old adage: “If you’re not part of the solution, your part of the problem.” I think on the fireground it’s a little more defined. If resources are diverted from necessary fireground tasks to save your butt, you become the problem.

Scott Cook is a firefighter and former chief of the Granbury (Texas) Volunteer Fire Department and a member of the FireRescue Editorial Board.