The drum : the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services magazine
Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services
The Drum; E-Journals; PublicationNT
2009-08-01
This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.; Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
Date:2009-08
English
Northern Territory Police, Fire And Emergency Services -- Periodicals; Police -- Northern Territory -- Periodicals
Northern Territory Government
Winnellie
Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Northern Territory Government
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/216683
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/709118
The DRUM Magazine | August 2009 | 1 Members of the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service (NTFRS) recently took part in one of the largest research projects ever undertaken in Australia when they joined forces with other agencies to find the best ways to cool down while fighting fires. The research project compared different methods of cooling for emergency personnel at protracted incidents. A group from the Emergency Department at Royal Darwin Hospital, the Northern Territory Institute of Sport and NTFRS were all involved in the multi agency study and have been working together to determine the most appropriate cooling methods during the rest phase of the work-rest cycle. The study requires NT Fire and Rescue members to actively participate in fire fighting, Chemical Biological & Radiological or Hazardous Material exercises for 35 minutes before being broken into groups to test various cooling techniques. During this cooling period; core temperature, blood pressures, pulse rates, tympanic temperatures and core temp reduction rates were measured at regular intervals. Groups then returned to the exercise after a 20-minute rest period, and repeated the work/rest cycle a further two times. The research team tested 120 NTFRS, Air Services fire-fighters, hospital and Saint John Ambulance personnel and gathered over 6000 individual observations. During the exercise 60 splash suits, 60 SE 400s (positive pressure respirators), 180 Breathing Apparatus (BA) cylinders and 60 BA sets were used. 240 questionnaires were completed and the research team have now moved into the data analysis phase in preparation for a preliminary report. NTFRS values the safety of its personnel highly and by participating in this activity we will gain invaluable knowledge on the best way forward to manage the welfare of our personnel at protracted incidents, said the NTFRS Director Mr Greg Nettleton. The NTFRS is very proud of its members who volunteered their time to participate and assist with running the exercises, without volunteers this testing would not have been possible he said. NTFRS cool off Territory fire-fighters are helping develop better ways to keep themselves cool during fire fighting incidents. Top Members experience what conditions would be like in a decontamination unit. Middle left Confined space exercise. Middle right Cooling off in the ice baths. Bottom Bill Gleeson gets his blood pressure taken during a cooling off period.