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Heat, humidity can be dangerous obstacles for firefighters, police officers

Heat exhaustion is a potential issue on hot summer days

When it gets this hot, things can turn dangerous quickly.

That’s especially true for the men and women out protecting us.

On hot days like Saturday, firefighters with heavy coats and police wearing bulletproof vests under their uniforms have it really hard, so precautions need to be taken to make sure they don’t end up in the hospital with heat exhaustion.

The heat of the day was at its highest when a fire broke out in an apartment building on Glynn Court.

“We called the third alarm right way to get companies here so they can form a rescue and so we won’t tire out our men and women,” said Senior Chief Darrell Freeman. “Plus we needed some manpower to get these people out.”

While the fire was contained to one unit, firefighters ended up having to do several rescues because of smoke filling the building.

Luckily, because they called for a third alarm, firefighters could be rotated so nobody ended up in the hospital with heat exhaustion.

“All my people are safe and they did a very good job in this extreme heat,” Freeman said.