The house fire Monday afternoon posed a particularly dangerous problem for firefighters. With heat indicies above 100, they could only spend a short amount of time fighting the flames itself before facing heat exhaustion and other dangers. Knoxville Rural firefighter Austin Kingery says its much harder to get that energy back in the summer when it’s so hot outside of the fire as well. Rural Assistant Fire Chief Dude Williams says that’s why manpower is so important. With almost a dozen different agencies on scene Monday, firefighters were able to continue to stay safe and hydrated while still having a number of people battling the flames.

Along with fire crews from across the county, the Pella Ambulance responded to the house fire, and brought along their recently acquired cooling equipment. The biggest addition to this cooling equipment is a misting tent, which the firefighters recovered under as the rotated in and out of fighting the fire. The ambulance crews were very active at the fire scene, bringing special towels meant to cool the firefighters down, along with bottles of water to keep them hydrated. This was the first time the misting tent has been used since it was purchased, and the firefighters using it say it works great.

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