Another day of temperatures below freezing is having an impact on local fire departments.
“Obviously, the temperature plays a factor this time of year for calls,” Rolesville Fire Battalion Chief Mike Hodgson said. “It is very, very slick. That’s a challenge for firefighters on scene to be safe.”
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Hodgson spoke to reporters after an early morning fire near Mitchell Mill Road and Fowler Road. The family escaped uninjured.
Hodgson said the firefighters are exhausted.
“They’re obviously cold, tired and that’s a big factor with fatigue,” Hodgson said. “Especially this time of year.”
“You’re adding extra weight to the hose on the exterior,” said Blake Wright, the Northern Wake Fire assistant chief. “It makes it harder to grip and grab a hold of, and then, add to that, your fingers get cold. You start losing dexterity, where you can’t just hold onto things. It is challenging.”
Wright said most firefighters would choose battling blazes in the cold versus the hot North Carolina summers. But that’s not to discount how difficult fighting frigid fires can be.
“Our turnout gear actually holds in our body heat, so they stay a little bit warmer in there,” Wright said. “But when we start wrapping things up and demobilizing the scene, that’s when our people start getting cold because they’ve sweated and their socks are wet, they worry about frostbite and things like that.”
It’s why so many crews are necessary at these scenes, in order to swap out firefighters to keep them fresh, and warm up those who are spent. But it’s far from the only issue facing firefighters when the mercury drops below freezing.
“It makes for slippery conditions around the fire ground,” Wright said. “You’ve also got water being sprayed from hose lines, getting on ladders, sidewalks and it causes them to get very slick, really quick, causing slip hazards.”
When the warnings go out about staying off the roads, that doesn’t apply to firefighters who need to drive massive fire engines on icy roads to get to emergencies.
But like most problems, firefighters have a solution to that.
“Our trucks have insta-chains up under them,” Wright said. “It puts a chain under the tire to help in those icy conditions.”
With the push of a button, two metal arms descend from the bottom of the fire engines, with a spinning wheel attached. And, just as Wright called them, chains instantly appear under the tires to help get traction.
“As the tire turns, it throws those chains up under it,” Wright said. “It helps with traction and that kind of stuff, but slowing down is key. You’re no good to anybody if you can’t get there.”