Photo By; Steve Clark
How do you cool down/cool your core body temperature? What have you found works best? Where is Rehab located and how long are you required to stay there?
Rehab at FIRES.
County Fire Tactics
The Firefighters Source for Rural to Urban Fire Tactics
Although many, many articles have been written on this topic, No one knows one’s condition better than their self. And although Rehabilitation is crucial to the overall well being of personnel, the abuse of rehab can significantly impede operations where crews have to accomplish numerous tasks simultaneously in order to mitigate a fire or involved extrication effectively. Depending on heat conditions and time exposed to; (ambient and radiant), and the amount of work that person has done, the amount of work yet to be done, and manpower; (not how many necessarily, but quality of workers), rehabilitation can be relative to the individual needs of the firefighter. “Quality” in this context meaning the amount of effective work a firefighter can do before requiring the need to get out of bunkers and cool off and hydrate for several minutes. Taking in a bottle of water while getting an air bottle exchanged then going back to work does not constitute rehab. The standard for how much work a firefighter should be able to do prior to requiring extensive Rehabilitation is ????? If you are serious about this job and want to be able to do your part on the fire ground, you should be working towards keeping yourself in the best physical condition possible. Flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular health are all crucial to your longevity in this job. Will Power, Heart, Determination, and adrenalin only go so far. When you are on the second or third fire in a shift, in the middle of Summer, how much are you going to have left in reserve? Only You know, Only You can make yourself ready for this scenario.
Good stuff…
Cold rags on & around the forearms. They have proven forearm immersion is the fastest way to reduce core body temp. Bucket of folded towels and the cold water out of cooler is very effective. They also have forearm immersion chairs on the market or you can make you own with the folding bag chairs. Simply make a cut down the arm rest and insert small trash bag.
Or just suck it up and go till you drop!