Fire and ice: what it's like to be a firefighter in a polar vortex

For first responders, good equipment is essential but extreme cold means having support teams on hand to battle the frost

It was 10:30am last Wednesday morning when Bimbo Gifford, assistant chief of the Cameron fire department in Wisconsin, received notice of a building fire. The wind chill was -50F. It was so cold that when water sprayed from inside escaped through the roof, it fell back on firefighters as ice pellets.

Afterwards, Gifford was talking to his colleague, chief Mitch Hansen, when he noticed the sunlight glinting in Hansen’s frozen-solid beard. He snapped a picture – but only after pulling his left eye open, which was partly frozen shut.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2TxE9Ra

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