Strategies to combat heat strain during and after firefighting

Carter, J.M.; Rayson, Mark P.; Wilkinson, David M.; Richmond, Victoria L.; Blacker, Sam D.

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2006.12.001

Cited by 73 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…We have documented an increase in core temperature of approximately 1.5°C (peaking at 38.6°C) following short-term (18 min) firefighting activity in a structure that contained live fires [23] and an increase of approximately 0.7°C (peak, 38.2°C) following 15 min of treadmill walking while wearing firefighting gear [24]. Similarly, Carter and co-workers [25] reported that 20 min of firefighting activity led to an increase in rectal temperature (+1.5°C). Importantly, core temperature continued to rise even after firefighters had ceased working and were removed from a hot environment (achieving a peak value of 38.9°C).…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme sacrifice: sudden cardiac death in the US Fire Service

2013

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Firefighting is a hazardous profession which has claimed on average the lives of 105 US firefighters per year for the past decade. The leading cause of line-of-duty mortality is sudden cardiac death, which accounts for approximately 45% of all firefighter duty-related fatalities. Strenuous physical activity, emotional stress, and environmental pollutants all strain the cardiovascular system, and each can increase the risk of sudden cardiac events in susceptible individuals. Sudden cardiac death is more likely to occur during or shortly after emergency duties such as fire suppression, despite the fact that these duties comprise a relatively small proportion of firefighters' annual duties. Additionally, cardiac events are more likely to occur in firefighters who possess an excess of traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease along with underlying atherosclerosis and/or structural heart disease. In this review, we propose a theoretical model for the interaction between underlying cardiovascular disease in firefighters and the multifactorial physiological strain of firefighting.

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Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme sacrifice: sudden cardiac death in the US Fire Service

2013

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“…Passive cooling methods apply phase change materials such as ice, frozen gel, salt, and wax. (Bennett et al, 1995;Carter et al, 2007;Choi et al, 2008;Chou et al, 2008;Gao et al, 2010Gao et al, , 2011Langø et al, 2009;Reinertsen et al, 2008;Webster et al, 2005;Zhang et al, 2003) in vest and clothing. The priority of the application of personal cooling in the army, fire fighting, and sports is to improve physical performance rather than comfort.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To regulate an entire built environment requires a large amount of energy. A more energy and material saving alternative is to use PCMs in clothing to improve the micro-environment of the human body, thus creating thermal comfort and/or alleviating heat strain (Carter et al, 2007;Gao et al, 2010Gao et al, , 2011Langø et al, 2009;Mondal, 2007;Reinertsen et al, 2008;Shim et al, 2001;Zhang et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal cooling with phase change materials to improve thermal comfort from a heat wave perspective

et al. 2012

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Wearable personal cooling integrated with phase change materials has the advantage of cooling human body's micro-environment in contrast to stationary personalized cooling and entire room or building cooling, thus providing greater mobility and helping to save energy. In places where air conditioning is not usually used, this personal cooling method can be used as a preventive measure when confronted with heat waves for office workers, vulnerable populations such as the elderly and disabled people, people with chronic diseases, and for use at home.

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“…Its use under protective clothing can decrease heat strain (Bennett et al, 1995;Cadarette et al, 2002;Chou et al, 2008;House et al, 2003) and increase time to exhaustion (Kenny et al, 2011). Nevertheless, not all studies found positive effects (Carter et al, 2007). It is possible that a PCM vest impairs sweat evaporation from the body and does not provide a positive contribution to the heat balance (Gao et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%