Extreme cold makes fighting fires not so hot

Frigid temperatures — like those blanketing Minnesota this week — make the tough job of fighting fires even tougher.

"I know the minute I leave that building and I go outside in elements like today, then I'm going to freeze up," Minneapolis Deputy Chief Todd White said. "It happens instantly."

With temperatures plunging to 9 below zero, firefighters responded to a scrap metal warehouse fire on St. Anthony Parkway in northeast Minneapolis around 1 a.m. Wednesday, where they found piles of burning metal.

Firefighters had to take special precautions to keep equipment from freezing. But the priority was to keep personnel warm enough to work. Fifty firefighters were dispatched — more than usual, because they had to switch between battling flames and warming up in a Metro Transit bus.

Brainerd firefighters faced a similar problem as they raced to a house fire 18 miles from their station earlier this month. Fire department Capt. Mark Turner said the temperature was right around zero when firefighters arrived.

"The personnel getting cold is probably one of our biggest issues to try to overcome," Turner said. To stay warm, Brainerd firefighters crawl inside ambulances and the warm cabs of fire trucks.

Bemidji Fire Chief Dave Hoefer says his department responds to about two fires a week during winter months.

"We just hope we don't get a big one that's going to have you outside for many, many hours," he said.

In frigid temperatures, firefighters struggle with more than just flames: They get wet from sweat and water. "As soon as they come back out they're going to get chilled very, very quickly," Hoefer said.

Firefighters are also prone to injury in winter.

"We suffer a lot of sprains and broken bones just from getting back and forth," White said. "It's like working on an ice skating rink."