Firefighters are there for the communities they serve 365 days a year.
Even when the day is pushing 100 degrees, firefighters push through the blistering heat.
Heat from the temperature outside, heat from the flames, and heat from the equipment can cause dehydration.
That’s according to Rickey Price the Water Rescue & Dive Team Captain with the East Taylor Township Volunteer Fire Company.
“With all the gear and the air pack on, you’re looking at a couple hundred pounds of weight on you. That can put stress on them. They’re going to sweat more and get dehydrated a lot quicker. Especially with summertime, with the heat index in the 80s and 90s and depending on the humidity it can get up to 100. They’re going to get tired a lot quicker need rehab, a lot more water, a lot more Gatorade during the summertime,”
Within the last few days alone, community members dropped over 70 cases of water to the East Taylor Township VFC.
That’s after the department put out a call on social media asking for water, Gatorade, and other drink donations.
Price said they were down to just one case of water left.
“Depending on how big the incident is, you could go through five cases to up to 20 cases, and how long you’re going to be there for,” he told 6 News.
It’s not just the intense heat that’s been an issue, but also the high gas prices.
Price said their team along with other local fire departments are “dropping out” of annual parades.
“We’ve also scaled back on traveling all over the place, like we did for parades, just because of the price of fuel. $100 just for maybe one way — or $200 round trip — just in fuel costs is not feasible for us for this area,” Price said.
From record-high temperatures to record-high gas prices across the United States, local fire departments are “feeling the burn.”
As for donations, The East Taylor VFC asking you to “respond” to the call for those who always respond to yours.