The thermal demands of flood rescue and impacts on task performance

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the thermal demand of simulated Flood Rescue tasks and impacts on performance. Ten participants undertook two simulations: ‘Cold’ (4 °C) -participants stood in knee height moving water (4.8 km·h⁻¹), with simulated wind and rain for 60 min. ‘Warm’ (20 °C) - participants performed 6x7 min walking in knee height moving water (3.2 km·h⁻¹), pulling 10 kg. Grip strength, manual dexterity, and jump height were measured pre and post. The cold resulted in cooling of the great toe and finger (9.98 [0.84]°C and 10.38 [8.21–12.1] °C, respectively). Jump height, manual dexterity and grip strength fell by 20%, 22% and ∼13%, respectively. In the ‘Warm’: heart rates were 157 (19) b·min⁻¹, oxygen consumption 30.62 (7.83) mL.kg⁻¹·min⁻¹, and sweat loss 1.06 (0.31) L. There were no differences in the physical tests. Flood Rescue represents significant, but different, challenges. Remaining static in the cold resulted in peripheral neuromuscular cooling, whilst exercising in the warm resulted in a significant thermal challenge.

Practitioner Summary: Little is known about the physical requirements, thermal profiles and optimum personal protective equipment for flood rescue. Flood rescue represents significant challenges. In the cold, emergency responders may be incapacitated by peripheral cooling. In the heat, they may be incapacitated by heat-related exhaustion. Consideration should be given to these risks.

KEYWORDS:

• Fitness
• flowing water
• personal protective equipment
• technician

Acknowledgements

Paddy Morgan (Surf Lifesaving GB), Grant Walkey (Royal National Lifeboat Institute), Geoff Long (University of Portsmouth), Danny White (University of Portsmouth), David Lane (ProRescue) and Joshua Robinson (University of Portsmouth).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.