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EMS, Police Warn About Being In Excessive Heat Too Long

FORT CHAFFEE (KFSM)—Officials said paramedics went out to Fort Chaffee’s Training Base several times on Tuesday (June 15) because of soldiers experiencing probl...

FORT CHAFFEE (KFSM)—Officials said paramedics went out to Fort Chaffee’s Training Base several times on Tuesday (June 15) because of soldiers experiencing problems in the heat.

“Those guys are America`s heroes and they`re going to train harder than anybody,” Keith Lindley said. “We had a a soldier that died out there yesterday, so the most important thing is finding out what happened to him, and I`m not saying that it’s heat-related, but it very well may have played a part in it.”

As an officer with the Barling Police Department, Lindley said he’s used to working in extreme heat.

“If we`re in a situation where we`re running after somebody, or we`re outside a long time-- even if we`re just working traffic, the body temperature goes up pretty quickly,” he said.

Lindley said officers keep the air running in their vehicles at all times and use them as a place to cool off. They drink plenty of water and look after one another, taking the same precautions paramedic Aaron Howell recommends.

“Reduce your exposure to the heat for certain,” Howell said.  “Find shade, find air-conditioning, drink lots of water if you`re going to be out into it. If you`re going to be out in the heat for long periods of time, when you think you`ve had enough water, drink some more.”

He said the first sign of a heat-related emergency is weakness.

“What we do is we [put them on the stretcher and put them in the ambulance],” Howell said. “We have the A/C on pretty cold, and we start cooling them down. Sometimes we place ice packs in certain areas of the body to reduce the heat. We’ll start IVs on the patients and replace the fluids they’ve lost in the sweating process.”

Fort Smith EMS said they've responded to four heat-related emergencies since the start of June.

For heat safety information, click here.

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