Cardiac strain associated with high-rise firefighting

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Cardiovascular Physiology
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Firefighting is physically demanding, with known physiological strain.
• Cardiac responses during large-scale fire operations and across different crew assignments remain under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize cardiac strain during simulated high-rise firefighting operations.
• To compare cardiac strain between different work assignments (fire suppression vs. search and rescue) and vertical ascent modes (stairs vs. elevator).

Main Methods:

• 42 firefighters participated in simulated high-rise firefighting trials.
• Assignments included fire suppression, search and rescue, or material support, with ascent via stairs or elevator.
• Cardiac strain was measured during Ascent, Staging, and Work phases.

Main Results:

• Search and rescue crews exhibited greater cumulative cardiac strain during the Work phase compared to fire suppression crews.
• Ascending via stairs resulted in significantly higher mean heart rate (HRmean) and peak heart rate (HRpeak) during Ascent and Staging phases compared to elevators.
• Transporting materials via stairs led to higher HRmean and HRpeak than using the elevator.

Conclusions:

• High-rise firefighting imposes considerable cardiac strain on firefighters.
• Search and rescue and material support roles involve greater cardiac strain than fire suppression, largely due to assignment duration.
• Utilizing stairs for vertical transport significantly increases firefighter cardiac strain compared to elevators.