By Michael McHugh
The Salem News
PEABODY, Mass. — One can count on Roger Baker and Rehab Five to be on scene when a major fire breaks out in southern Essex County to combat the environmental hazards and fatigue that face first responders.
For the past 40 years, Baker and other volunteers with Rehab Five have worked with local fire departments to provide on-site support to firefighters with the help of cooling equipment, drinks with electrolytes, hot meals, and most recently — decontamination equipment to mitigate risks of occupational cancer.
| MORE: On-scene rehab for firefighters
In 1986, before the concept of fire ground rehabilitation even had a name, Baker bought a used ambulance that he repurposed into a canteen to deliver much-needed hydration and nutrition to local fire departments, who were just getting used to the new, bulky protective ensembles that quickly caused fatigue and overheating.
However, Baker’s firefighter rehabilitation work started much before that, as he would deliver drinks to his local fire station in Swampscott on a bicycle when he was just 12 years old.
Today, Rehab Five has grown to a fleet of nine vehicles and 15 volunteers who self-dispatch to an average of 175 calls a year with certain years seeing the team respond to as many as 280 calls.
Wearing a combination of equipment including heavy pants with boots built into them, modern firefighters are completely encapsulated in a way that protects them from flames, but doesn’t allow their bodies to shed heat as it builds up.
“So as they start to do metabolic work — using their muscles to swing an axe or pull a hose, they generate heat, and there’s no way for that heat to escape because of that protective ensemble,” Baker said. “That protective gear is great for keeping them from thermal burns and whatnot, but it creates a kind of hazard that rehab hopefully addresses before it becomes a heat stress injury.”
But Rehab Five’s work goes far beyond the use of misting fans, wet towels, and other cooling equipment to treat overheating. With many major fires requiring hours of grueling work and exposure to environmental hazards like smoke, the physical demands of firefighting require a diversity of different forms of support.
Depending on the nature of a call and the time of year, rehabilitation work can look different. In the winter, Rehab Five uses two buses converted to contain warming areas with benches and equipment for taking vital signs alongside ambulance staff as crews enjoy hot beverages.
In the summer, a repurposed ambulance will drive to fires with an ice chest containing 300 bags of ice and more than 500 bottles of water and sports drinks. During large brush fires, Rehab Five utilizes an ATV to drive well into the woods to meet firefighters where they are and provide hot food with a barbecue grill attached to the back of the vehicle.
More recent additions to Rehab Five’s services include methods of removing toxic and harmful chemicals from firefighters who spend extended periods of time in smoke-filled buildings.
“One big thing we’re thinking about now is occupational cancer,” Baker said. “These firefighters are dying slowly over the course of their career, as they inhale smoke and get it into their pores, which is a big problem.
“One of the things that we do at Rehab Five apart from providing hydration when they come out the building is to try to wipe that smoke off their face with these special ‘hero wipes’.”
Any department in the area would agree that the services that Rehab Five provides are invaluable, according to firefighters like Deputy Chief Peter Schaeublin of the Salem Fire Department.
“I can’t say enough how much we appreciate Roger Baker and his team,” Schaeublin said. “When I got to the department in ‘96, we had bad brush fires, similar to what we saw this past September, and we were in the woods all day long.
“It was sweltering hot, and I remember seeing him and his team crawling around out in the woods with us, making sure we got water and something to eat. He’s a sight for sore eyes for our firefighters — you can’t put a price tag on that.”
Being an entirely volunteer organization that does not bill for their services or receive taxpayer money, Rehab Five relies on donations, which can be made at rehabfive.org.
“It costs us about $60,000 to $70,000 to insure all of our trucks and all of our bills so that we can go on these calls,” Baker said. “The biggest cost is insurance — it’s almost $40,000 a year for all of our vehicles before even considering gas costs or the equipment we need being stocked and ready to go. We have a lot of vehicles, but each has a certain function.”
Baker, who is now retired from his full-time job outside of Rehab Five, did consider becoming a firefighter earlier in life, but quickly became engrossed in rehabilitation work, which he says gave him the opportunity to see almost every major fire in southern Essex County since 1986.
“I was going to take the test at one point when I lived in Swampscott, but their department wasn’t taking on a whole lot of people at the time,” Baker said.
“I started doing this, and it just took off. But I’ve seen more fires than most firefighters.”
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