Crime & Safety

Bitter Cold Blasts Into Sussex This Week

National Weather Service warns of dangerous wind chills on arrival of arctic air mass.

The National Weather Service (NWS) at Milwaukee-Sullivan warns residents to be prepared for bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills this week, with thermometers not likely to hit the 30-degree mark until Sunday.

"A cold Canadian air mass will settle over the region on northerly winds" that will together "produce wind chill readings of 20 to 25 below across all of southern Wisconsin Tuesday night," including the Sussex area, with wind gusts up to 25 m.p.h., according to the weather service.

"This changes the way the Sussex Fire Department operates in a number of ways," said Fire Chief Colin "Corky" Curtis.

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"First, dispatch does a very good job of telling us if a medical emergency call is for a patient indoors or out-of-doors, so we can be aware of exposure factors that could impact the victim's treatment," Curtis said.

"Second, our operation on fire calls changes significantly in weather this cold. We have to keep pumps circulating so discharge outlets don't freeze up, and we don't fully shut off water lines to hydrants," he said.

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"We have to keep at least a trickle of water moving all the time, and when we finally shut down, our crews must take extra care to make certain all systems are fully drained. We then spray in antifreeze."

"It simply doesn't take that much water to do significant damage very quickly to the valving system on fire vehicles," Curtis explained.

Fire or accident victims are the primary concern of firefighters, Curtis said. "Of next greatest concern," he said, "is the safety of firefighters themselves, since they can become so focused on doing their job that they don't pay attention to frostbite of toes, fingers, ears and noses."

When a fire breaks out in bitterly cold weather, "we will call for mutual aid so we have more firefighters to rotate in and out of service for breaks and medical checks," Curtis said.

"We get them into a warm area, check their blood pressure and pulse, make sure they're drinking enough water, and see if extremities are getting too cold."

"You can be sweating on the inside of fire gear and feel very, very warm at the very same time that a person's extremities can be freezing," Curtis said.

Other problems can plague firefighters who do battle in extreme cold.

"Condensation of your breath can freeze up your air regulator and affect the amount of oxygen being delivered," Curtis explained.

Clear vision also is vitally important to rescue and fire personnel. "When you step from a warm truck or rest area out into the bitter cold, your helmet's visor can fog up completely," Curtis said, adding a that person can underestimate just how dangerous that can be on a fire or accident scene.

The National Weather Service says the frigid Canadian air mass will envelope southern Wisconsin with cold air and winds from Wednesday through Monday, especially at night, although temperatures could rise into the 30s during the day on Sunday.


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