Effects of Water Bag of Forest Fire Suppression Hand Pump on Body Balance

Body balance function is an important ability for forest firefighters in firefighting tasks using forest fire suppression hand pumps. In order to study the influence of style and weight of water bag on body balance in forest firefighting, this paper assesses the physiological and perceptual responses of three types of water bags, by tests of balance function and perception assessment. Variance analysis indicated that style and weight of water bag had significant effects on the total length of body sway (TLS), total length of body sway in front-rear direction (TLSFR) and average speed of body sway (ASS). The values of TLS, TLSFR and ASS were the highest for water bag S₁, and the lowest for water bag S₂. Results of perception assessment indicated that style and weight of water bags had significant effects on subjective attitudes of body balance. S₂ and S₁ are the most and least favorable style of water bag, respectively. In terms of body balance, the order would be S₂, S₃ and S₁, based on a comprehensive analysis on the tests of balance function and perception assessment of three water bags.