Running on adrenaline

Last week I was granted the privilege of spending some time at the Airway Heights Fire Department with a few of its on-duty volunteer firefighters.

The day I was there, they didn't receive an onslaught of incessant calls, giving volunteers downtime to clean the station, service fire vehicles and work on training drills. That makes sense, since according to national estimates, firefighters spend just 1 percent of their time engaged in active firefighting. But when that alarm did ring, watching volunteers spring into action was eye-opening, to say the least.

Research has shown over the years that firefighters regularly experience surges of adrenaline, for obvious reasons. When a call comes in, when they rush to outfit themselves in less than two minutes, when they arrive on-scene to a burning building or brush fire, the energy spikes.

In Airway Heights, one moment they're tucking into a "cowboy lunch" of beef, baked beans and garlic bread and the next they're running pell-mell toward an idling fire engine.

Every time this happens, the body's heart rate and blood pressure increase rapidly, and firefighters experience increased respiratory rates, oxygen consumption and possibly fatigue.

Being a firefighter means accepting the risk of danger, including burn injuries, explosions, asphyxiation and entrapment. But interestingly enough, despite these ever-present possibilities, the real dangers to firefighters are the physiological effects of their career choice.

A 2010 study on firefighter health by the First Responder Health and Safety Laboratory at Skidmore College found that the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths for firefighters is a sudden cardiac event.

Sudden cardiac events account for 45 percent of firefighter deaths each year, and that doesn't even include the 800–1,000 firefighters that annually suffer nonfatal heart attacks while on duty.

Experts trace a large part of this to "sympathetic nervous stimulation" - essentially, the adrenaline rush frequently experienced by professional firefighters and volunteers.

This extreme high is often part of the fun for volunteers and it helps them react more quickly, which is imperative in their line of work. But the physiological responses to firefighting are due to a combination of this stimulation, heat stress and the muscular work that firefighters perform in the course of their emergency duties.

It's particularly tough on first responders when you consider that these sudden jolts of energy can happen up to 10-15 times each shift.

Airway Heights volunteer Jason Malone said how busy the firehouse is depends on the day.

"We'll get dry spells and for a week we'll only have one or two a day. Then other times you're going all day," Malone said.

Firefighters don't generally prepare their bodies for the surge of adrenaline. Given the nature of the work, it's doubtful that they even could.

Airway Heights Deputy Chief Nate Whannell said the rush doesn't last.

"It's kind of a situation where when you're done, you're done," Whannell said.

Some fire departments are trying to prevent that adrenaline dump, installing gentler alarms and wake-up calls to make sure that firefighters aren't startled by loud noises and blinking lights several times a night.

These computer-activated systems might be easier on firefighters, but they're also faster, shaving significant seconds off of response times.

Research indicates that some of the best ways to combat harmful adrenaline spikes is with high skill and situational confidence in first responders.

Airway Heights can check that off the list; its volunteers are required to spend at least an hour a shift working on training.

Other helpful tactics are low-intensity exercises like yoga, trying meditation and staying in good physical shape to cut down on the risk of underlying heart disease.

Fortunately, career firefighters say the rush tends to diminish with time and experience.

Whannell said that after several years with the department, experienced firefighters don't feel the same rush as the newer recruits.

"It has to be a pretty big call for a big adrenaline dump any more. I tend to be the one to look at the call and think things through a little bit," Whannell said.

This is a different approach than the one used by some of the younger volunteers, including Malone, who is a relatively recent addition to the department and will soon be moving to Las Vegas to pursue career firefighter opportunities.

"I like to get to the truck and then look at the call," he added.

Shannen Talbot can be reached at cheneygreepress.com.