Physiological response to firefighting activities of various work cycles using extended duration and prototype SCBA

Abstract

Firefighters' self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) protects the respiratory system during firefighting but increases the physiological burden. Extended duration SCBA (>30 min) have increased air supply, potentially increasing the duration of firefighting work cycles. To examine the effects of SCBA configuration and work cycle (length and rest), 30 firefighters completed seven trials using different SCBA and one or two bouts of simulated firefighting following work cycles common in the United States. Heart rate, core temperature, oxygen consumption, work output and self-reported perceptions were recorded during all activities. Varying SCBA resulted in few differences in these parameters. However, during a second bout, work output significantly declined while heart rates and core temperatures were elevated relative to a single bout. Thirty seven per cent of the subjects were unable to complete the second bout in at least one of the two-bout conditions. These firefighters had lower fitness and higher body mass than those who completed all assigned tasks. Practitioner Summary: The effects of extended duration SCBA and work/rest cycles on physiological parameters and work output have not been examined. Cylinder size had minimal effects, but extended work cycles with no rest resulted in increased physiological strain and decreased work output. This effect was more pronounced in firefighters with lower fitness.

Preventing and Monitoring Work-Related Diseases in Firefighters: A Literature Review on Sensor-Based Systems and Future Perspectives in Robotic Devices

“…Several studies [40,43,46,48,49,54,55,62,68,72,73,75,77,78,80,82,83,86] have analyzed different body temperature parameters in firefighters such as core body temperature (Tc) and skin temperature (Tsk). Tc is one of the most used parameters for monitoring heat stress in firefighters and represents the temperature of the internal organs of the body, which is normally between 36.5 and 37.4 • C. Heat exhaustion begins to occur when Tc is between 38 • C and 40 • C [59].…”

“…During simulated firefighting activities, Kesler et al (2018) [48] used a common portable device for breath-by-breath analysis of metabolic data (Cosmed K4b2) to measure the impact of four SCBA configurations and three specific work cycles of varying duration on VO2 and VE of 30 firefighters. Williams-Bell and co-workers [81] used a portable metabolic data collection unit (Cosmed K4b2) with a commercial SCBA facepiece to measure VO2, VCO2, VE and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) during a simulation of a subway system search and rescue.…”

“…The hazardous environments encountered during real fire activities limit the ability to easily test scenarios to improve safety and effectiveness of interventions or to decrease physiological strain [ 46 ]. Although most of the research on firefighters’ physiologic responses has been conducted in laboratories [ 48 , 65 , 67 , 68 , 71 ] and during simulated firefighting activities [ 4 , 25 , 36 , 46 , 49 , 51 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 62 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 80 , 81 , 82 ], few studies are present in literature during real firefighting operations [ 43 , 64 , 69 , 70 , 78 , 83 , 84 ].…”

“…For all the above-mentioned reasons, several studies deal with the analysis of physiological variables [ 6 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 ] and physical parameters [ 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 ,…”

Differences in 5-year weight change between younger and older US firefighters

“…Obesity is highly prevalent among US firefighters (24–35%) [ 1 – 5 ] and is associated with impaired work performance [ 6 ], increased risk of injury [ 7 , 8 ] and duty-related sudden cardiac events [ 9 ]. Sudden cardiac events are the leading cause of duty-related deaths in the fire service [ 10 ], and coronary heart disease and structural heart changes (cardiomegaly and LVH) have been identified in over 80% of cardiac cases [ 11 ].…”