The steady state load of five firefighting tasks

Abstract

Purpose. Physiologic demands of five common tasks in firefighting have been examined. Methods. Eight male volunteers, being dressed up as smoke divers (+21 kg extra load), carried out the following tasks at constant pace for 5 min: Walking at 1.4 m·s–1, walking (all walks at the same speed) while carrying a 10 kg ladder, walking carrying two hose packs of 16 kg together, walking carrying a 32 kg spreader tool, finally climbing up and down a ladder at preset pace. A 5 min break separated each exercise. Heart rate, O2-uptake and ventilation were measured continuously, and blood lactate con-centration was recorded after each task. Results. The end-exercise heart rate rose from 108 to 180 bpm from first to last task, blood lactate concentration rose from 1 to 7 mmol·L–1, O2-uptake rose from 19 to 48 ml·kg–1·min–1, and ventilation rose from 38 to 124 L·min–1. Discussion. Walking was an easy task even when dressed up as a smoke diver. Adding loads increased demands; ladder climbing taxed >90% of the subjects’ aerobic power. Conclusions. The physiologic demands varied considera-bly between different tasks.