VIDEO: We've already seen quite a few wildfires pop up this season in Western Montana.
For more insight into what working on the front lines requires from firefighters' bodies, MTN connected with Brent Ruby, a physiologist who has spent 25 years researching health, performance, and safety — for mainly hot-shot crews — through Montana’s Center for Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism.
"Montana is just really well known for fire and it's a part of our landscape. It's a part of our fabric," Ruby expressed.
When wildfire season is in full swing around the West, that means all types of fire crews are too.
“My very first study with fire crews, the focus was to look at what the total energy demands of the job might be,” shared Ruby.
To do so, Ruby used a special method that gave real-time data.