RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Influence of Personal Protective Equipment on Wildland Firefighters’ Physiological Response and Performance during the Pack Test
A1 Carballo Leyenda, Ana Belén
A1 Gutiérrez Arroyo, Jorge
A1 García-Heras Hernández, Fabio
A1 Sánchez Collado, María Pilar
A1 Villa Vicente, José Gerardo
A1 Rodríguez Marroyo, José Antonio
A2 Educacion Fisica y Deportiva
K1 Educación Física
K1 Wildland Firefighting
K1 Personal Protective Equipment
K1 Readiness For Work
K1 Physical Employment Standards
K1 Work Capacity
AB [EN] The Pack Test (PT) is a widely used test to establish readiness for work in wildlandfirefighting. It is common to perform this test dressed in regular exercise clothing. However, wildlandfirefighters (WFF) have to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) during their deployments,which increases the physiological strain and reduces their work capacity. This study aimed to analysethe impact of full PPE on PT performance. Nine male professional WFF performed in randomorder a PT walking at the fastest possible self-pace wearing two different clothing configurations:(i) traditional short sports gear (SG) and (ii) the PPE currently used by Spanish WFF. Heart rate (HR),rating of perceived exertion and lap time were recorded during the PT. In addition, oxygen uptake(VO2) was estimated through the individual VO2–HR relationship previously obtained during agraded exercise test. There was a significant decrease in the PT performance (i.e., completion time)(~12%, p < 0.05) in PPE. The physiological demands with this configuration were significantly higher(~10%, p < 0.05). WFF spent ~13 min above the anaerobic threshold in PPE vs. ~4 min in SG.A multiple stepwise regression analysis revealed that PT performance variation might be explainedby the maximal aerobic velocity (84.5%) in PPE and the VO2max (75.9%) in SG. In conclusion, wearingcomplete PPE increases WFF’s physiological strain, which translates into a significant PT performancereduction. Performing the test walking at the fastest possible self-pace wearing the PPE would betterreflect the high-intensity effort periods reported in real scenarios.
PB MDPI
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10612/18901
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10612/18901
NO Carballo Leyenda, A. B.; Gutiérrez Arroyo, J.; García-Heras Hernández, F.; Sánchez Collado, M. P.; Villa Vicente, J. G.; Rodríguez Marroyo, J. A. (2021). Influence of Personal Protective Equipment on Wildland Firefighters’ Physiological Response and Performance during the Pack Test. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18
DS BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
RD 01-jun-2024