Firefighters take on the heat at summer fires

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The heat outside is taking a toll on firefighters. The men and women who sacrifice their safety on a regular basis to fight fires are working overtime now any time they get a fire call.

Fighting a burning building, under normal circumstances, puts firefighters' lives at risk, but now add 10 or 20 degrees of heat outside.

“We've had such high temperatures these last couple of weeks, we get our gear on it's like 75 pounds and you're packed up you can spend a lot of energy quick,” explains Ray Hashley with the McCordsville Volunteer Fire Department.

Ray Hashley says as soon as the call comes in, surrounding departments are alerted. Three departments responded to a fire Sunday morning in McCordsville and around 30 firefighters were needed so the department could rotate crews.

“Once you're in for 15, 20 minutes, you come back out. We want to make sure the firefighters are safe. We put them through a rehab position that's out here and we put new and fresh people inside so that we constantly have good people in there,” says Hashley.

Fire officials and paramedics on the scene watch out for excessive sweating, red faces, nausea, light headedness and high blood pressure. And when needed, the firefighter will be forced to sit out.

“You got to look out for everybody around you, you know, some of us handle adrenaline better than others,” explains firefighter Tony Biggs of McCordsville.

For the McCordsville department the rescuers are all volunteers putting their lives on the line no matter what Mother Nature throws their way.

“We love the community we just want to do something for the community, everybody out here has got a need to help the community,” says Biggs.

McCordsville firefighters say a woman inside the apartment at the time of the fire went to the hospital for smoke inhalation.  The cause of the fire is still under investigation.