Chandler firefighter Steven Van Damme, right, wipes away sweat during a controlled simulation of a fire in a big-box structure at the training academy in Chandler.
Summer temperatures add to stresses, dangers of job
Fire crews from Chandler, Gila River and the city of Maricopa had gathered in a small classroom to review fire procedures.
Then a call rang out: A nearby big-box structure was filling with smoke.
As part of the training exercise, three crews were dispatched to the building, wearing suits and gear weighing upward of 75 pounds. By 9 a.m., temperatures already had cracked 100 degrees.
The firefighters, who were visibly fighting the brutal heat as well, broke into the building so filled with smoke they barely could see.
The building was cleared in less than 20 minutes. Crews peeled off their suits and helmets, finding nearby shade to recover.
The emergency was a controlled simulation at the Chandler Fire, Health & Medical Department burn tower, part of a quarterly training that crews are required to complete.
The June 21 simulation mimics situations all too real for Valley fire crews over the summer.
Rain, shine or excessive-heat warnings, fire officials respond to hundreds of calls per week in Metro Phoenix.
For the next several months, they will be battling the blistering summer temperatures as well as the emergencies.
The amount of time fire crews are exposed to the heat can be unpredictable.
Responding to calls in such intense heat puts physical strain on the first responders, according to Joe Hester, executive vice president of the Professional Firefighters of Arizona.
“You’re hot, you’re going from call to call,” he said. “It’s a lot more physically taxing when the weather is up there.”
Martin Hernandez is training captain and paramedic for Chandler Fire, Health & Medical. Only on a fire call, crews are wearing four extra layers of protection, he said.
The suits are not only designed to block external heat from fires that reach 500 degrees and hotter, but the gear also keeps internal heat in.
“The suit can raise your body temperature,” Hernandez said. “You can take a boot off and actually pour sweat out of your boot.”
Depending on the intensity of the call, fire command officers will configure rotations on the ground to move responding fire crews in and out of action more quickly.
Phoenix Fire Capt. Larry Subervi said, for example, that fire crews will add an additional four personnel to a working fire call when temperatures reach 105 or higher.
Small trash fires can last 20 to 30 minutes, while larger house fires can require hours of time to extinguish and monitor. Some calls will get bumped to first alarm, or top priority, status to bring more crews to a quickly escalat-
ing situation.
Even though the dry, hot summer climate is likely to cause an increase in fires, the majority of calls coming into a station are medical in nature. Typically, these emergencies do not require crews to don the protective gear, but the constant stream of calls keeps units on their feet.
Crews have a window of recovery time, known as “rehab”, to recoup before responding to the next call.
But for crews jumping from call to call, a full recovery is hard to come by.
“We’re always on that edge of heat exhaustion before we start,” Hester said.
Hester, who has served as a firefighter in Arizona for the past 18 years, said hydration before, during and after a shift is key. While rare, firefighters will get overwhelmed by the heat and need to be transported from a call to a local hospital.
Crews also keep to a stricter diet, Subervi said. He said his station adds extra fruits and veggies to the menu to keep up energy levels and complete daily physical training in full gear.
“We tell our people: By the time you get to work, you should have 32 ounces of water in your system,” he said. “What we’re putting into our system is what we’re using on a call.”
June 20 marked the official start of summer, although Phoenix-area residents have been tripledigit heat since May. The state averages roughly 90 days of 100 degrees throughout the summer months, with late September often marking the end of triple-digit temperatures.
The state experiences 110-plus degree days from about mid-June through early August. The Valley recently has been baking during an excessive heat warning, with temperatures topping out at 119 degrees on June 20.
Heat aside, firefighters must keep up with regular training sessions, simulating scenarios from house fires to drownings. In Chandler, Valley crews use the newly developed 9,000square-foot burn tower, which opened earlier this year. Training re-emphasizes rescue procedures and fire-behavior techniques, and also mimics the extreme conditions firefighters will be exposed to while responding to calls during the sweltering summer months.
The facility simulates realistic calls for response, such as fires in basements and big-box stores. Crews wait for calls to response in a nearby classroom and are dispatched to a controlled emergency situation that could include a mock victim, smoke, a crash car or an active fire.
“They treat it as real incidents,” Mario Maldonado, training captain for Chandler Fire, Health & Medical, said. “It’s as lifelike as we can make it.”
Maldonado is responsible for observing and leading training sessions in the complex, focusing on fire behavior and response techniques. He said the trainings allow for crews to hammer out any mistakes and practice procedures for uncommon calls, such as emergencies involving infants and toddlers.
Crews also complete daily training while at the station in preparation for the day’s calls, including physical training in full gear and scenario runthroughs. Nearly 80 percent of calls are medical in nature, Hernandez said, and about 15 percent of calls are fire-related.
Hernandez also provides training zeroing in on EMS and medical development. He said crews are equipped to respond to any type of medical call. During the summer, crews see an increase in heat-related illness, heat stroke, drowning calls and mountain rescues during the summer months.