Metabolic and thermal responses of firefighters during repeated work bouts

• Main Author: Mulligan, Gregory John
• Other Authors: Docherty, David
• Language: English; en
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: firefighters; physical training; heat; physiological effects; UVic Subject Index::Humanities and Social Sciences::Education::Physical education and training
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/979

This study examined the metabolic and thermal responses of 14 firefighters during four repeated work bouts of treadmill exercise in a thermoneutral laboratory, working at an intensity similar to typical firefighting tasks (30-34 ml·kg-1·min-1), while wearing firefighting protective equipment and breathing from a self-contained breathing apparatus. Each work bout consisted of treadmill walking at 93.8 m·min-1 and 8% grade for 8 min followed by 4 min of passive rest. Oxygen consumption remained unchanged between all four work bouts (p>0.05). Ventilation increased significantly (p<0.05) during the first three work bouts from 57.1 (±3.1) to 68.7 (±2.7) L·min-1. Percent heart rate reserve increased significantly (p<0.05) during each work bout, from 76.0 (±1.8) % HRR during the first to 97.2 (±1.1) % HRR during the fourth work bout. Core temperature increased significantly (p<0.05) during each work bout from 36.87 (±0.07) to 38.87 (±0.10) °C from the first to the fourth work bout, as did some of the psychophysiological measures.