Personal Cooling Vest Systems for Emergency First Responders
Battling a blaze in the layers of protective clothing and the self-contained breathing apparatus is a safety imperative, but the risks of exacerbation are great. Summer heat & humidity increases the dangers. Data in the past 5 years now shows that heart attack due to heat stress is the number one cause of death in firefighters.
Though with all the equipment that a firefighter must carry, it is not a viable option to increase his/her load with a Veskimo backpack system, however, on breaks, it is easy to just plug the vest into a Veskimo cooler for instant relief. During suit-up, throwing the vest on over the t-shirt and then putting the protective suit over the vest, the fire fighter is ready to plug into the cooling system. In this case, each fire fighter has their own vest, but the coolers themselves can be fewer as breaks are usually staggered.
The same methodology can be applied to other emergency service workers who must work in the heat and humidity such as:
- Bomb disposal teams
- Wildland Fire Suppression
- SWAT Teams
- Police, Motorcycle & Traffic Officers
- Search and Rescue Teams
- Hazmat
For more emergency heat prevention information, please click on these links:
Firefighter Heat Stress Prevention
Emergency Responders at Risk for Heat Stress
