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Cold Weather Firefighting
After watching news video of the apartment complex fire in Michigan, I found myself thinking of cold weather firefighting, and the differant methods of rehab. We obviously can't pull in and set up a "warm area" for responders to sit inside to warm up. (unless you count ambulances) In cold weather where you battle temps around 0 icing occurs (frostbite) and you start losing your personnel at a faster pace. Although you can call more manpower to the scene through mutual aid (as did grand rapids) but how do you set up a mass rehab unit? (luckily in their case a business stayed open to assist in warming the victims of the fire and the firefighters)
What does your department do on days when your SCBA is frozen to your back, and the fire is still going to provide rehab?
12-22-08 We had a fire the other day during one of the colder spells we have had. It was a call for a fully involved dwelling and our Engine was directed to a fill-site. While at the fill site we encountered slippery road conditions (from the water) and general cold temperatures making it uncomfortable to operate with. We were provided coffee by one of our captains who had his POV. In a situation like this, we are away from the main scene by a descent distance and all the rehab was concentrated on scene. It's always interesting to stand your jacket up because it's frozen shell provides the stability. I'm hoping for more views on this this year to get more ideas of how you handle the cold.
What does your department do on days when your SCBA is frozen to your back, and the fire is still going to provide rehab?
12-22-08 We had a fire the other day during one of the colder spells we have had. It was a call for a fully involved dwelling and our Engine was directed to a fill-site. While at the fill site we encountered slippery road conditions (from the water) and general cold temperatures making it uncomfortable to operate with. We were provided coffee by one of our captains who had his POV. In a situation like this, we are away from the main scene by a descent distance and all the rehab was concentrated on scene. It's always interesting to stand your jacket up because it's frozen shell provides the stability. I'm hoping for more views on this this year to get more ideas of how you handle the cold.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on
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We definitely face cold temperatures here. We had a fire not long ago where the first responding crew was working in -32 (that's -25 F). The face, hands and feet tend to get cold fast, especially once you're wet. I saw a picture of one of the crew members sitting in the backyard on a 2 1/2 iced over. He and his Capt were taking turns, but they were still icing over quickly. When they were finally tagged out his gloves stuck to the hose, even after repeated moving of his hands. It makes it hard to move when you are covered in ice, bending the arms and legs is difficult and if you have to take off your facepiece and then put it back on, God be with you, it can be hellish!
We have rehab set up right away. At this particular fire, they left with shift change (when we came in and took over) and had to be called back at 8am because we were frozen. We have the use of our rehab vehicle to warm up and chip the ice off, an EMS rehab bus (a remodeled city bus meant to care for multiple casualities) and the Salvation Army truck comes out, manned with ex-chiefs to serve us food and coffee/juice. It all helps.
Little tricks are always having a winter bag in the rig, extra socks, gloves, mittens, hats. Using running gel on your nose and cheeks (but not to interfere with your facepiece), it helps to keep the warmth in, but I tend to forget I have it. Best for if you are assigned to accountability and have to stand around. Keep the nozzles cracked a little so the lines don't freeze and put the non operational pumps in pump gear and flush water through to keep things from freezing up.
Clean up is the worst because lines have to be shut down and if there's enough of them out, they will freeze before they can be drained... ouch. We have had to bring in steam trucks, and sand trucks to ensure we are able to get the outriggers out of the ground and no kill ourselves walking back and forth.
It's a real challenge. The coldest weather I have been out at a fire is -42 (that's about the same in farenheit, I think at -40, it's the same temp celcius and farenheit). My face and fingertips burned all the next day... ouch!! lol... but you know what, I would rather the freezing temps to 44-52 (with humidity) above 0 (110-124). Now theres some health risks... and it's disgusting... lol!
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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The slight mist feedback from a 2 and 1/2 line is plenty enough on an attack from the exterior to have frozen some to the ground. (thats not fun trying to get them up) Fighting an interior fire aggressively will mean your getting wet, and when your wet, your freezing. The air packs freeze easily (high pressure couplings release air) and after they are wet you will need some help getting it off. Your hands getting wet is always a problem, once the gloves ice over, it will radiate the cold through to your skin underneath. (yes it will insulate some, but the cold and wetness will find a way soon enough) Having a spare bag is a great idea, so long as you remember to grab it before you hop in the rig to respond. I have about 10 Hothands in my gear bag for those days that they are needed.
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My winter bag stays with my gear, so I put it on the rig when I get there. I assume if you are responding to the hall first and then to the call, as long as you keep the bag with your boots, you would be able to grab it and run. I have hot hands too, always forget they're in my pockets. I keep saving them for a colder day, heaven help us if that comes... haha!
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Permalink Reply by turk182 on
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we had a structure fire assisting a neighboring department and it was so cold out that the trucks were freezing to the road and another deparments engine started sliding back down the hill on the ice.
they had no place to rehab and when we came out of the house my gear froze up and I could not bend my legs or arms. My brother and the Captain had to pick me up and put me in the truck to go home.
I strarted carrying extra gloves and hoods in a water proof bag plus those heat packs you can get them cheap in the hunting section at wal-mart.
We use our brush truck now to let fire fighters to get warmed up .
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Permalink Reply by mike wright on
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Last year we had two structure fires on the two coldest days of the year. The first one they called everyone out and left no one behind. By the time salvage and overhaul came around we were all froze and tired. So it took for ever to do. The only place we had to put anyone was in the front seats of the running engines. This worked but made a mess of the trucks. The second fire they called everyone but us in right away. They left us sitting in the warm station to do the overhaul function of the fire. This worked out better than the week before. We were warm and dry but also ready to get the job done. This worked for us out in the sticks.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Good topic! This has me really thinking about which mutual aid departments have heavy duty rescues large enough to fit several people. There are a few, but they have to travel a considerable distance. Two or three ambulances would be good too, for monitoring vitals and re-warming. For massive incidents a call to the local school transportation superintendent could get a school bus or three.
I guess the idea would be to appoint a rehab officer and cycle the troops through on a continual basis. The IC also needs to get on the radio and request massive mutual aid manpower to the scene. Maybe line up space heaters to get the fire house temperatures up above normal. You might even need to construct ductwork out of tarps to thaw out a pump or hose bed.
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Isn't it amazing when you imagine the scope of an operation for preplanning winter time fireground operations. Massive manpower would be required to assist in suppression while firefighters were rehabbing. (rehab would have to occur early and often.) I seen some issues with pride, and work to do, but it is crazy of you have to live with dead extremeties for the rest of your life because you wouldn't take a few minutes to unthaw. Pride should be the last thing on your mind when at a fire when in sub zero temperatures. Joe, having additional Ambulances there would be awesome. They heat relatively quickly and they can moniter vitals as well. Another alternative you can do is purchase a DECON tent, and they make heaters for them. It will provide you a 15x15 area of heated space away from the elements in the time it takes to expel 2 air cylinders to fill it.
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Permalink Reply by ILDisasterEMT on
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One thing thats vital to consider is the same as they taught us in EMS: you're first responsibility is to keep yourself safe. If you dont, you become a liability and a dead or seriously sick (ie frostbit, hypothermic) fire fighter does no one any good. Consider some statistics. Hypothermia can begin to set in at temperatures as high as 70 degree F and you lose heat 25 TIMES faster through water than you do through air. You simply cant afford to be tough guys (and girls) about it. Don't forget about your personal gear like hand warmers or leave warming gear back in the house: you wouldn't forget your helmet and boots would you. Rehab is vital. If a FFs temp drops below about 94 degrees, he is done. The fact that there is a job to be done doesn't factor it when you have people freezing to the ground. You have got to have a seriously good rehab officer (ie EMT or Medic) to keep and eye on the rest of the team during extreme cold or hot weather. And don't forget that you can get dehydrated in extreme cold just as easy as you can in extreme heat. Another good thing is a fleece wear stocking cap between your hood and your helmet (5.11 tactical makes and excellent one that isn't too bulky). It may seem a little bulky at first, but remember that in excess of 50% of your body heat goes right out the top of your head. Also, the collapsible stand alone plastic tents that can be heated make for excellent rehab stations. They can be heated and stocked with coffee and power bars and those extra calories can make all the difference. Even feeding your folks something like beef jerky that is high calorie/high protein will make a noticeable difference. I am currently working on a manual on extreme weather rehab for FFs and EMTs. If you have any other ideas, feel free to send me a message or email me at zenemt@hotmail.com.
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Quick caution on the exhaust... lots of potential for CO build up in our blood streams already. Just a caution, I know you only have your feet under it, but all the same, it's best to limit exposure. :)
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Actually, there is about as much chance of getting "gassed" standing behind a truck to warm yourself on the exhaust as there is getting sun-burnt under a grow light at your local florist. Its just not gonna happen. If you are standing in otherwise fresh air or wearing scba you run next to 0% percent chance of affecting your perfusion to the point where you would be in ANY danger.
Im not sure if you have ever run on an attempted suicide by CO inhalation, but its a very difficult thing to do. About your biggest worry about standing behind some diesel exhaust is getting your bunker gear smelling funny and really, who's gonna notice that. There's simply to much fresh air for it to even be a concern. Obviously the best thing is passive re-warming like in a nice warm ambulance if the medical crew will let you aboard their nice clean rig, but really just about anything you can do on the fire ground to get yourself warmed up is a good idea. I have a friend who carries a small first aide kit on the truck in cold weather and he keeps one of those little thermos bottles with about 16oz of coffee, some chemical hand warmers, dry gloves, a couple of pairs of dry socks and a dry balaclava (hood). When you have been outside for 30 minutes of so, being able to rehab and get on some warm and dry gear is the best thing for you. He then puts his cold/damp stuff near a heater in the rehab area and goes back to work so he always has warm and dry gear to swap out.
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My point was little amounts of CO can add up, there are reasons we have nedermans... why would you take any chances by standing in exhaust fumes. CO eventually clears from the blood stream, but my point was simply, why add insult to injury by standing in exhaust fumes that departments have paid so much money to help limit our exposure to. That's a lot of money for no reason.
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Many of the FFs I work with and around soak up more CO on any given day smoking cigarettes than they every would standing behind a truck exhaust.
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