PHOENIX — It was a busy Monday for Phoenix Firefighters, at the start of the hottest week of summer so far.
At sun rise the temperature around 80 degrees in Phoenix, by late afternoon it was 106. During all of it, firefighters wear at least 50 pounds of gear while working in the hot sun.
106 degrees in Phoenix this afternoon and it’s already been a busy day for @PHXFire working several fires today including one that was a 2nd alarm response. Tonight, how they’re holding up fighting fires in the heat in all their gear. pic.twitter.com/uoSkR1orzA
— John Trierweiler (@JohnTrierweiler) June 10, 2019
"We're gonna be managing our crews work cycles, watching them, making sure they don't get fatigued while they're putting out this fire," said Phoenix Fire Captain Kenny Overton.
The department also limits the amount of work their crews will do in a fire when outside temperatures are so high. Usually after about 20 minutes of work on a scene, incident commanders will switch crews out with new firefighters.
In Phoenix during the summer months, after firefighters have been ordered out of the fire and taken to hydrate, a new crew will take over for them for the remainder of that scene.
"This is part of the job working in these kind of temperatures and these conditions, the men and women of the Phoenix Fire Department train for this day in and day out," said Overton.
