The majority of our data collection for experiment one has taken place at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) in Chorley. This is a large and busy training ground and we were very lucky to be able to tag our research onto existing training activities. This is a key feature of our research project; we are measuring cognitive functioning after a real live-fire exercise in which firefighters are exposed to extreme temperatures but are also engaging in realistic firefighting activities and scenarios. Some of the previous studies in this area have measured the effects of heat on cognition, but not in ecologically valid situations. Whilst these past findings can isolate the effects of heat, they do not fully represent the challenges faced by firefighters. Being able to collect the data at LFRS is therefore critical and we are so grateful to all our participants and the instructors who gave up their time and supported the research.
Similar to the data collection at the Fire Service Technical College, participants first completed our battery of cognitive tests in a classroom at the same time as taking the pill to measure core body temperature. Two to four hours later the firefighters took part in their live-fire training activity. In many cases this involved them completing search and rescue tasks, manipulating heavy equipment, scaling staircases, and extinguishing fires. The training took place indoors inside a two-storey building made of steel and concrete blocks (to withstand such high temperatures). On exiting the training, the firefighters completed our cognitive test battery three more times.
The time spent inside the training building ranged from eight to 24 minutes and ambient temperatures ranged from 115°C to 400°C. Data collected from the pills showed that firefighters who participated in our study reached core body temperatures of up to 40.85°C (much higher than the normal range of 36°C to 37.5°C).
We are limited to testing four firefighters on any one day because we need to have one laptop (for the cognitive tests) and one data logger (for the core body temperature) per participant. Despite this, it has still been challenging to collect the data in the field, primarily because the experiment is quite long and we are following participants across the course of their training day and noting entrance/exit times for the live-fire training exercise in addition to the times they need to complete the cognitive battery. Firefighters complete their training in pairs and so the cognitive tests are usually staggered with participants at different stages of the experiment at different times. This requires a lot of organisation and note-taking and it is definitely a team effort. The work has given us valuable experience of field work, and this would not have been possible without the help of LFRS.
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