PROPER hydration is vital to a firefighter’s performance, research from the University of Cumbria has found.

The university’s Sports Science Support Group worked with firefighters at Kendal and Penrith to carry out the research.

Final-year sport and exercise science student Tom Rothwell collected a range of data from the fire crews before and after training sessions.

Key findings showed that around half of the firefighters were not sufficiently hydrated to work at peak performance, especially during breathing apparatus training, which is more physically demanding.

Tom Wright, Service Fitness Adviser and Janet Helm, Occupational Health Sister from the Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, were both involved in the research project.

Mr Wright said: “As Cumbria is predominantly an on-call service I feel it is even more important to educate personnel on the importance of maintaining sufficient hydration levels.

“One minute someone could be on a building site, and the next they are on the back of a pump riding to an incident.

“Crew managers therefore cannot regulate how well hydrated their crew is.

“Now that we are more aware of the effects of dehydration on the human body, we have started to carry water in the crew cab, to encourage personnel to consume fluid, even on route to a job.”