The Health Dangers the Hotshots Faced

　　消防人员面临的健康风险

　　Experts say that wildfires can be doubly dangerousfor firefighters; when homes and forest burnsimultaneously, both heat and smoke conspire tomake air unbreathable. Below are a few of the riskswildfire firefighters like the elite Hotshot crew facein the line of duty:

　　专家说，森林火灾对消防员来说危险性更高;房屋和森林同时燃烧时，热量和烟混在一起，让人无法呼吸。以下是精英消防员在灭森林大火时面临的一些风险

　　Heat: In extremely high temperatures and wearing heavy protective gear, firefighters oftenexperience heat stress, which can lead to nausea, light-headedness and weakness. This canprogress into heat strain, which causes both the core body temperature and heart rate tosoar. If there's no relief from the heat, a firefighter can experience heat stroke.

　　高温：在极高的温度下，穿着沉重的防护装备，消防员经常经历高热，导致恶心、头晕、虚脱。还会引起体温和心率飙升。如果热量不能释放，消防员就有可能中暑。

　　Toxic Air: Smoke and dust from a wildfire produce a variety of toxic substances and gaseslike carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde. "The problem with wild firefighting isthat unlike structure fires where you have a self contained breathing apparatus, in wildfirefighting there is no way you will have an air supply that will last long enough to do that,"says Lou Paulson, president of California Professional Firefighters."A filter mask has to befiltered for the particulates that you are dealing with, which you don't know because you are ina wildland environment. "

　　有毒气体：森林大火中的烟雾和粉尘会产生很多有毒物质和气体，如一氧化碳、二氧化硫和甲醛。加州的专业消防主席Lou Paulson说：“在野外灭火的问题在于，它不像对待建筑火灾一样，会有一个自给式呼吸机。在野外，消防员是不可能有持续很长时间的呼吸设备的。”“过滤 口罩必须过滤掉那些你碰到的颗粒，这你是不会知道的因为你在野外。”

　　Fatigue: During the initial surge of the fire, the front line is very difficult to control, accordingto Paulson. "You can have folks on the fire line for 72 hours or longer with no break at all. Thereare long work periods and no rest," he says. It's not uncommon that firefighters get soexhausted that they succumb to an intense need to nap on the fire line after long hoursfighting relentless flames and inhaling toxic gases

　　疲劳：Paulson说，火势刚开始变猛的时候，火线是很难控制的。“火线上有人72小时或更长时间连续工作而得不到休息。”这种情况并不少见，在长时间与无情的大火斗争，吸入有毒气体之后，消防员早已筋疲力尽了，他们极度需要在防火线上小憩一会。

编辑：张雨

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