Mitigation and Prevention of Exertional Heat Stress in Firefighters: A Review of Cooling Strategies for Structural Firefighting and Hazardous Materials Responders

Abstract

Most duties performed by firefighters require the use of personal protective equipment, which inhibits normal thermoregulation during exertion, creating an uncompensable heat stress. Structured rest periods are required to correct the effects of uncompensable heat stress and ensure that firefighter safety is maintained and that operations can be continued until their conclusion. While considerable work has been done to optimize firefighter cooling during fireground operations, there is little consensus on when or how cooling should be deployed. A systematic review of cooling techniques and practices among firefighters and hazardous materials operators was conducted to describe the state of the science and provide recommendations for deploying resources for fireground rehab (i.e., structured rest periods during an incident). Five electronic databases were searched using a selected combination of key words. One hundred forty publications were found in the initial search, with 27 meeting all the inclusion criteria. Two independent reviewers performed a qualitative assessment of each article based on nine specific questions. From the selected literature, the efficacy of multiple cooling strategies was compared during exertion and immediately following exertion under varying environmental conditions. When considering the literature available for cooling firefighters and hazardous materials technicians during emergency incident rehabilitation, widespread use of cooling devices does not appear to be warranted if ambient temperature and humidity approximate room temperature and protective garments can be removed. When emergency incident rehabilitation must be conducted in hot or humid conditions, active cooling devices are needed. Hand/forearm immersion is likely the best modality for cooling during rehab under hot, humid conditions; however, this therapy has a number of limitations. Cooling during work thus far has been limited primarily to cooling vests and liquid- or air-cooled suits. In general, liquid-perfused suits appear to be superior to air-cooled garments, but both add weight to the firefighter, making current iterations less desirable. There is still considerable work to be done to determine the optimal cooling strategies for firefighters and hazardous materials operators during work. Key words: fireground; emergency incident rehabilitation; hyperthermia; hazmat