Breathing at a Fire Not All That Simple
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The Editor’s Opinion Page
There are few, if any, fire fighters who cannot properly don a self-contained breathing apparatus and go into an unfriendly atmosphere. But there must be a lot of fire fighters who are unaware of the physiological and psychological effects of using the apparatus during fire combat or high stress conditions.
According to the authors of the article on page 36, “Not enough time and attention has been given (in training) to examining such things as the effect of change in a fire fighter’s blood pressure, heart rate and blood gas while using breathing apparatus.”
Few fire fighters are aware that their blood gases change and that carbon dioxide builds up in their blood even while wearing breathing apparatus. Many are totally unaware of their changes (from normal) in blood pressure, heart rates and EKG readings. This area is missing, the authors claim, in the curriculum of most breathing apparatus classes.
To get around this gap, the authors initiated a course which they named “Survival Technology and Rescue Team Training,” called STAR for short. The course outline consisted of 14 items which can be found in the article. Two of the items, however, are worth mentioning here since they are not usually found in breathing apparatus training programs.
The first was the collection of base line data on the physical and mental condition of each participant. It included vital lung capacity tests and at-rest heart rates and blood pressure. The second item was the same tests which were completed after the trainee had been put through fire attack exercises with and without breathing apparatus, plus a 30-minute stress test on an obstacle course. The second, of course, included blood test sampling.
Probably the most important item in the training program is the individual fire fighter’s data base profile. This is a record of a man’s physiological norm when he enters the fire service that can be compared to his responses to stress as he continues through his career. There were some fire fighters who were against this data base profile. They were afraid that the data would be used against them as they grew older. But the STAR team hopes to use this data as a form of preventive medicine to increase the longevity of fire fighters. In any event, this article is well worth reading and pondering.
