A mid-morning rain on Friday set the stage for a hot and muggy afternoon. 10TV meteorologists expect the heat index to feel as hot at 100 degrees.
One group of people who really feel the burn is EMS workers. Firefighters and paramedics often have to wear heavy uniforms and equipment in order to do their jobs.
“It's cumbersome; it's very hot,” Perry Radi, a firefighter and paramedic for Jackson Township said.
Radi said it can be difficult to cool off when fighting a fire and wearing protective gear.
“[It gets] to the point to where you are sweating and you continue to sweat and [nothing] cools you down,” Radi said. “It feels like you become dizzy. You become exhausted. And you just can't do anything.”
Radi is describing the effects of heat exhaustion. He says he and his colleagues do a number of things to prevent heat-related illness.
“We try and keep our work cycles really short,” Radi said. “Typically we try to run a 15-minute work cycle on a working fire or incident.”
If the heat becomes overbearing, Jackson Township has a policy of sending extra firefighters or paramedics to help out.
“We'll have about 16-17 guys come initially. And then we'll add about five or six guys to that incident afterward,” Radi said.
Heat exhaustion is an extreme threat for firefighter during a heat advisory.
Once a firefighter has worked on a fire for several minutes, it’s time to strip down and cool off.
“It's being able to let the sweat wick off and have air come through so we can dissipate heat. It's really important for us. So, normally we'll go down from this to a single layer t-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes,” Radi said.
Radi shared his top three tips for staying cool in a heat advisory:
1. Stay hydrated. Drink fluids not only during activity but before you go outside
2. Wear cool light colored clothing
3. Schedule activities either early in the day or late in the day