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Helmets Causing Headaches...
Hey all, we got paged to a hay bail fire in a barn, we arrived on scene to find the arched metal barn in good shape structurally, however there were about 70 round bales inside that had a pretty good jump on us. We decided against sending a crew in for interior because the risk just wasnt worth it in this case. Fast forward to the end of the scene, it's been 5 hours of dragging hose, breathing in thick smoke and full structural gear because my volunteer fire dept doesnt have wildland gear. I got home and had possibly the worst headache I've ever had I attributed it to having my helet on for 5 hours. I've been on other scenes and had my helmet on for an extended period of time, however the headache has never been this bad before. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for helping prevent my headache next time were on scene for an extended period of time? Also has anyone else had this or am I an isolated person that should consider a new career? :(
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Vito on
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Unfortunately nope Capt723. Even paid fire departments here. A SCBA set costs same value a used car. Anyway don't mean to divert the topic. Just to confirm that experience of helmet headache thing. That's all.
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Oh sorry Jenny about the rehab unit.
Yeah, all FF's here are aware of the consequence of no SCBA's fighting fire. We do we have to do.
Ironically,believe or not. No Philippine FF's ever died of smoke inhalations or getting trapped inside a structure fire. Hospitalized - rare. We just understand our handicap in fighting fire. I guess you guys a culture shocked!huh. Its very extremely different in our far side of the world.
One thing from brothers & sisters of FFN is always reminding me. I am investing in lung cancer. It is true indeed. Our units here must find a way to procure it. somehow.....
Oh yeah, a cooler of water, a bag of crackers it was a relief to have food and nourishment during the long day fighting fire.
Jenny, Capt723 check out our site www.pasig-alliance.co.nr
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Permalink Reply by Jenny Holderby on
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Ok, so we just let it burn out of control until it does fall over?
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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With the water we don't have here, it's quite possible that we'd do just that!. But normally with a haystack, hayrick or hayshed fire we'd be trying to pull the (in this case) rounds out and then attempting to break them up. That's if the farmer or one of his neighbours had machinery capable of doing this. There's even a chance of saving some of them that way! Pouring huge quantities of water on a fire like this is just not normally an option for us. And it would ruin all the hay anyway.
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Yes, if the smoke is thick & heavy even in an exterior attack, you should consider SCBA. It is hard to keep a ff in rehab for very long. They don't realize they need to rest for 15-20 minutes. Once they have caught their breath & had a drink they want to get up & go again. Firefighters do not understand dehydration & what it does to us.
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Around here we usually don't have rolls inside a barn. Most will build a "shed", a 3 sided structure with tarps as drapes to cover the front to store the rolls under. But then we don't see structures big enough for 70 rolls either. We have fought them in the field. We have unrolled them using pike poles. We try to literally roll/move them away from the other rolls or wet down around the hay not on fire to try to prevent them from catching. A backhoe is a handy tool if you happen to have one about or a hayrake. Last Christmas we were called on a barn fire. The barn had just had about 300 bales of hay put in it a couple of days before. We had a good response time but it was fully engulfed when we got there. We cooled it down to and protected exposures. We helped the owner move livestock out of pens and to a pasture farther back away from the fire and the dog kennels were getting pretty warm too. We cooled the fire down enough to get them moved. Unfortuntely the mare & stud they had put inside the barn for breeding purposes didn't make it out because they were chained inside.
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Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen Shea on
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ok, back to the originally programmed question.....
Is your helmet too tight? That gives me the rare headache.
If not, are you breathing an environment that you shouldn't be breathing to begin with?
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Permalink Reply by Peter on
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at our dept.we are all having a big issue with our helmets giving us headaches..we are using the Bullard helmets..on the headstrap there is a pressure point where it touches the head and no matter what..when i put on my helmet for a period of time,,,i always get the throbbing headaches..
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Permalink Reply by Bob on
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Lots of good replies and all basic stuff.....
Safety, safety, safety!
Regular rest and rehab for dehydration.
Check CO levels (we use the Rad57) this is becoming the standard of care during rehab operations.
Oh, by the way my helmet gives me a headache after 20 minutes, all helmets are the same, all heads are different.
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