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Comment by PaulDavisThe1st | Hacker News Reader

Last Saturday, myself and two other firefighters managed to find a woman lost in a maze of 40+ miles of trails. Her hip had dislocated, she could not move. The temperatures were in the upper 20s (F) (-3C or so) with serious windchill amidst 35mph/56kph wind gusts. It was extremely dark. We stayed with her and tried to keep her as warm as possible until a UTV arrived to extricate her. I was home by 01:00, after 4hrs outside under the stars.

In the end we didn't really do much at all, but it felt like one of the most meaningful nights of my entire life.

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For that person, the security of having help might be as useful even medically as the parts that other medics did later.

Wouldn’t she have died from exposure if you hadn’t found her?

There’s a beautiful quote from a 2019 episode of the podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed, Auld Lang Syne. John Green recounts some advice he got while in college and working as a chaplain at a children’s hospital: “Don’t just do something. Stand there.”

The FF/EMT who was on our team of 3 felt that she was likely 2hrs from hypothermic death. How accurate that is, I don't know. But basically, yes, she would have died if not found.

Interesting.

Did the FF/EMT factor in the non-linear response of the body to prolonged cold exposure in a semi-conscious state, or was the 2-hour hypothermic window derived purely from a calculated assumption of metabolic shutdown under idealized conditions?

Given the reported risk of imminent hypothermic death, can we assume the field intervention included a comprehensive thermal balance assessment prior to transport? Specifically, was there any attempt to implement active rewarming protocols during the extrication phase, or was the focus solely on stabilization and preservation of core temperature via passive methods?

That is a epic story. What gear were you in, were you in structural gear or something else? Just the thought of hiking in my structural gear gives me blisters.

No structural gear for 2 of the 3 of us. I had civilian gear on other than my EMS jacket which despite not being "proper outdoor gear" is insanly warm. Thankfully I had also layered a merino wool base layer and my RAB thinsulate-y puffer jacket under that, REI expedition gloves and two layers of hats. One of my colleagues did not do so well, and was really inadequately dressed given that we had to strip down a bit to keep her warm. The 3rd person on the team wore his structural jacket and wildland helmet.

The UTV1 crew had their structural jackets on, but otherwise civilian.

Y'all are experts here. May I ask, are those mylar blankets really a thing ? Do they work ?

Hi, I don’t have their expertise but I backpack and camp a lot, including in some pretty hostile environments. I keep a pack of 12 in my trunk for emergencies. The answer is yes, they’re a thing and they work. They’re super lightweight. However, I wouldn’t want to use one unless I had to. They keep you warm by trapping all of the moisture and humidity from your body inside. This means you’ll feel clammy and sweaty if you use one for long. This is why they’re called “emergency blankets”.

But they trap the body heat too, yes ?

Yes

Woooooooooowwww

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