Fear of acetylene cylinders exploding because of the heat kept firefighters at bay.
Extreme heat kept firefighters from reaching a 12,000-gallon tanker car that was leaking 10 gallons of hydrochloric acid a minute.
Hampered by dry conditions and heat yesterday, firefighters across Florida battled a rash of brush fires, some of which forced the evacuation of homes.
Despite winds blowing 50 mph and triple-digit heat this weekend, firefighters made gains on a wildfire that has burned more than 12 square miles of forest in Santa Barbara County and Los Padres National Forest since last week, officials said Monday.
Active cooling using forearm immersion in cold water for 15 min was recommended for heat-stressed firefighters (Burgess et al., 2012).
Exploding manhole covers are common in the spring, when salt washes into manholes, corroding wires, which heat up, said Firefighter Paul Iannizzotto, a Fire Department spokesman.
Four people in the buildings, at the Polo Grounds Houses, were taken to a local hospital for heat exhaustion, and firefighters rescued several people from elevators in the 30-story buildings, Assistant Chief Joseph Callan said.
According to InciWeb.org, much of the fire shows no smoke, but a considerable amount of heat remains so firefighters are seeking out the hotspots and putting them out.
One firefighter suffered heat exhaustion but no other injuries were reported.
The flames and heat nevertheless drove five firefighters to charge the flames in an attempt to escape to the other side of the firefront, but only one of them survived.
