{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T21:15:03Z","timestamp":1790111703704,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,13]],"date-time":"2025-05-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1747094400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Italian Institute for Labour Accidents (INAIL)","award":["B83C23000220005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B83C23000220005"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In response to the escalating complexity and frequency of wildland fires, this study investigates the feasibility of using wearable devices for real-time monitoring of cardiac, respiratory, physical, and environmental parameters during live wildfire suppression tasks. Data were collected from twelve male firefighters (FFs) from the Italian National Fire Corp during a simulated protocol, including rest, running, and active fire suppression phases. Physiological and physical metrics such as heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory frequency (fR) and physical activity levels were extracted using chest straps. The protocol designed to mimic real-world firefighting scenarios revealed significant cardiovascular and respiratory strain, with HR often exceeding 85% of age-predicted maxima and sustained elevations in high-stress roles. Recovery phases highlighted variability in physiological responses, with reduced HRV indicating heightened autonomic stress. Additionally, physical activity analysis showed task-dependent intensity variations, with debris management roles exhibiting consistently high exertion levels. These findings demonstrate the relevance of wearable technology for real-time monitoring, providing an accurate analysis of key metrics to offer a comprehensive overview of work-rest cycles, informing role-specific training and operational strategies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s25103066","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,13]],"date-time":"2025-05-13T09:26:48Z","timestamp":1747128408000},"page":"3066","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Field Testing Multi-Parametric Wearable Technologies for Wildfire Firefighting Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-3357-8615","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mariangela","family":"Pinnelli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Measurements and Biomedical Instrumentation, Departmental Faculty of Engineering, Universit\u00e0 Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Unit of Automatic Control, Departmental Faculty of Engineering, Universit\u00e0 Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stefano","family":"Marsella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Italian Firefighting Corp, Piazza del Viminale, 1, 00184 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fabio","family":"Tossut","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Italian Firefighting Corp, Piazza del Viminale, 1, 00184 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9696-1265","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emiliano","family":"Schena","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Measurements and Biomedical Instrumentation, Departmental Faculty of Engineering, Universit\u00e0 Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Fondazione Policlinico Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, 00128 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8792-2520","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberto","family":"Setola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Automatic Control, Departmental Faculty of Engineering, Universit\u00e0 Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3090-5623","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlo","family":"Massaroni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Measurements and Biomedical Instrumentation, Departmental Faculty of Engineering, Universit\u00e0 Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Fondazione Policlinico Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, 00128 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"488","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejor.2024.03.005","article-title":"The wildfire suppression problem with multiple types of resources","volume":"316","author":"Avci","year":"2024","journal-title":"Eur. J. Oper. Res."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(2024, October 11). Incendi Forestali: Da Gennaio a Luglio 2024 in Linea Con la Media dal 2006. Episodi Pi\u00f9 Gravi in Sicilia e Sardegna, a Vieste Salva la Copertura Forestale\u2014Italiano, Available online: https:\/\/www.isprambiente.gov.it\/it\/news\/incendi-forestali-da-gennaio-a-luglio-2024-in-linea-con-la-media-dal-2006-episodi-piu-gravi-in-sicilia-e-sardegna-a-vieste-salva-la-copertura-forestale#."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"014010","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/4\/1\/014010","article-title":"Urban-wildland fires: How California and other regions of the US can learn from Australia","volume":"4","author":"Stephens","year":"2009","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ferguson, S.A., Smith, B.P., Browne, M., and Rockloff, M.J. (2016). Fatigue in Emergency Services Operations: Assessment of the Optimal Objective and Subjective Measures Using a Simulated Wildfire Deployment. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph13020171"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3141","DOI":"10.5194\/nhess-21-3141-2021","article-title":"ABWiSE v1.0: Toward an Agent-Based Approach to Simulating Wildfire Spread","volume":"21","author":"Katan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"45","article-title":"Fire Spread Modeling Using Probabilistic Cellular Automata","volume":"2021","author":"Ghosh","year":"2024","journal-title":"Commun. Comput. Inf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Schumaker, N.H., Watkins, S.M., and Heinrichs, J.A. (2022). HexFire: A Flexible and Accessible Wildfire Simulator. Land, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/land11081288"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Arca, B., Pedes, F., Salis, M., Pellizzaro, G., Duce, P., Ventura, A., Canu, A., Jahdi, R., Giudice, L.D., and Scarpa, C. (2022). Evaluating Wildfire Simulators Based on the 2021 Large Fires Occurring in Sardinia. Environ. Sci. Proc, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/environsciproc2022017074"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"34","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apergo.2016.08.018","article-title":"Measuring wildland fire fighter performance with wearable technology","volume":"59","author":"Parker","year":"2017","journal-title":"Appl. Ergon."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rodrigues, S., Dias, D., Paiva, J., and Cunha, J.P.S. (2018, January 18\u201321). Psychophysiological Stress Assessment among On-Duty Firefighters. Proceedings of the 2018 40th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), Honolulu, HI, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/EMBC.2018.8513250"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"(2024, October 16). NFPA Reveals Rise in Fatal Firefighter Injuries in the US During 2022. Available online: https:\/\/internationalfireandsafetyjournal.com\/nfpa-reveals-rise-in-fatal-firefighter-injuries-in-the-us-during-2022\/."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1007\/s00420-011-0661-4","article-title":"Physiological work demands of Spanish wildland firefighters during wildfire suppression","volume":"85","author":"Carballo","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.2486\/indhealth.2021-0157","article-title":"A review of test methods for evaluating mobility of firefighters wearing personal protective equipment","volume":"60","author":"Tochihara","year":"2022","journal-title":"Ind. Health"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1101","DOI":"10.1080\/00140139.2011.611895","article-title":"Physical and thermal strain of firefighters according to the firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires","volume":"54","author":"Villa","year":"2011","journal-title":"Ergonomics"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Taborri, J., Pasinetti, S., Cardinali, L., Perroni, F., and Rossi, S. (2021). Preventing and monitoring work-related diseases in firefighters: A literature review on sensor-based systems and future perspectives in robotic devices. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 18.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18189723"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bustos, D., Cardoso, R., Carvalho, D.D., Guedes, J., Vaz, M., Torres Costa, J., Santos Baptista, J., and Fernandes, R.J. (2023). Exploring the Applicability of Physiological Monitoring to Manage Physical Fatigue in Firefighters. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23115127"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1551","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amjcard.2008.07.052","article-title":"Comparison of Cardiocirculatory and Thermal Strain of Male Firefighters During Fire Suppression to Exercise Stress Test and Aerobic Exercise Testing","volume":"102","author":"Angerer","year":"2008","journal-title":"Am. J. Cardiol."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"213","DOI":"10.1080\/15459624.2014.970272","article-title":"Cardiac Strain Associated with High-rise Firefighting","volume":"12","author":"Smith","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Occup. Environ. Hyg."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1001","DOI":"10.4085\/1062-6050-0426.19","article-title":"Contribution of the autonomic nervous system to recovery in firefighters","volume":"55","author":"Ebersole","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Athl. Train."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"762","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amjcard.2008.11.032","article-title":"Measurement of Functional Capacity Requirements to Aid in Development of an Occupation-Specific Rehabilitation Training Program to Help Firefighters with Cardiac Disease Safely Return to Work","volume":"103","author":"Adams","year":"2009","journal-title":"Am. J. Cardiol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2396","DOI":"10.1519\/JSC.0b013e3181bb72c0","article-title":"Physiologic Responses of Firefighter Recruits During A Supervised Live-Fire Work Performance Test","volume":"23","author":"Barbieri","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Strength Cond. Res."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1417","DOI":"10.1586\/erc.11.149","article-title":"Heart rate recovery: A practical clinical indicator of abnormal cardiac autonomic function","volume":"9","author":"Okutucu","year":"2011","journal-title":"Expert Rev. Cardiovasc. Ther."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pluntke, U., Gerke, S., Sridhar, A., Weiss, J., and Michel, B. (2019, January 23\u201327). Evaluation and Classification of Physical and Psychological Stress in Firefighters using Heart Rate Variability. Proceedings of the 2019 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Berlin, Germany.","DOI":"10.1109\/EMBC.2019.8856596"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Meina, M., Ratajczak, E., Sadowska, M., Rykaczewski, K., Dreszer, J., Ba\u0142aj, B., Biedugnis, S., W\u0119grzy\u0144ski, W., and Krasuski, A. (2020). Heart rate variability and accelerometry as classification tools for monitoring perceived stress levels\u2014A pilot study on firefighters. Sensors, 20.","DOI":"10.3390\/s20102834"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vyas, K., and Mcgregor, C. (2018, January 28\u201330). The use of heart rate for the assessment of firefighter resilience: A literature review. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Life Sciences Conference, LSC 2018, Montreal, QC, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/LSC.2018.8572095"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"823","DOI":"10.1007\/s00420-020-01641-3","article-title":"The association between heart rate variability, reaction time, and indicators of workplace fatigue in wildland firefighters","volume":"94","author":"Jeklin","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nicol\u00f2, A., Massaroni, C., Schena, E., and Sacchetti, M. (2020). The Importance of Respiratory Rate Monitoring: From Healthcare to Sport and Exercise. Sensors, 20.","DOI":"10.3390\/s20216396"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"214","DOI":"10.3109\/10903127.2010.545474","article-title":"Physiological Recovery from Firefighting Activities in Rehabilitation and Beyond","volume":"15","author":"Horn","year":"2011","journal-title":"Prehospital Emerg. Care"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"975","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1440-1843.2010.01809.x","article-title":"Spirometry and impulse oscillometry (IOS) for detection of respiratory abnormalities in metropolitan firefighters","volume":"15","author":"Schermer","year":"2010","journal-title":"Respirology"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Raiano, L., Di Tocco, J., Massaroni, C., Di Pino, G., Schena, E., and Formica, D. (2021, January 7\u20139). Respiratory rate estimation during walking\/running activities using principal components estimated from signals recorded by a smart garment embedding piezoresistive sensors. Proceedings of the 2021 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT, MetroInd 4.0 and IoT 2021, Rome, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/MetroInd4.0IoT51437.2021.9488448"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kral, T.R.A., Weng, H.Y., Mitra, V., Imhoff-Smith, T.P., Azemi, E., Goldman, R.I., Rosenkranz, M.A., Wu, S., Chen, A., and Davidson, R.J. (2023). Slower respiration rate is associated with higher self-reported well-being after wellness training. Sci. Rep., 13.","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-023-43176-w"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Salim, F., Belbasis, A., Prohasky, D., Houshyar, S., and Fuss, F.K. (2014). Design and evaluation of smart wearable undergarment for monitoring physiological extremes in firefighting. ISWC \u201914 Adjunct, Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers: Adjunct Program, Seattle, DC, USA, 13\u201317 September 2014, Association for Computing Machinery.","DOI":"10.1145\/2641248.2666716"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tartare, G., Zeng, X., and Koehl, L. (2018, January 15\u201318). Development of a wearable system for monitoring the firefighter\u2019s physiological state. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems, ICPS 2018, St. Petersburg, Russia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICPHYS.2018.8390767"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"475","DOI":"10.1071\/WF20076","article-title":"Wildland firefighters\u2019 thermal exposure in relation to suppression tasks","volume":"30","author":"Villa","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Wildland Fire"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Massaroni, C., Sacchetti, M., Romano, C., Schena, E., Innocenti, L., and Nicolo, A. (2023, January 6\u20138). The effects of different algorithms on the performance of a strain-based wearable device estimating respiratory rate during cycling exercise. Proceedings of the 2023 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT, MetroInd4.0 and IoT 2023, Brescia, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/MetroInd4.0IoT57462.2023.10180148"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2710","DOI":"10.1111\/sms.13291","article-title":"Physiological responses and parasympathetic reactivation in rescue interventions: The effect of the breathing apparatus","volume":"28","author":"Ravier","year":"2018","journal-title":"Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"657","DOI":"10.1080\/00140139.2016.1198496","article-title":"Firefighter exercise protocols conducted in an environmental chamber: Developing a laboratory-based simulated firefighting protocol","volume":"60","author":"Ensari","year":"2017","journal-title":"Ergonomics"},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"Magenes, G., Curone, D., Secco, E.L., and Bonfiglio, A. (September, January 30). Biosensing and environmental sensing for emergency and protection e-Textiles. Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS, Boston, MA, USA."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bravo, J., L\u00f3pez-de-Ipi\u00f1a, D., and Moya, F. (2012). Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-35377-2"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Massaroni, C., Silvestri, S., and Schena, E. (2024, January 29\u201331). Comparison between heart rate estimated by single-lead ECG and optical-based wearable systems during outdoor running. Proceedings of the 2024 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT, MetroInd4.0 and IoT 2024, Firenze, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/MetroInd4.0IoT61288.2024.10584238"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2173","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2019.2949608","article-title":"Respiratory Monitoring during Physical Activities with a Multi-Sensor Smart Garment and Related Algorithms","volume":"20","author":"Massaroni","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pinnelli, M., Presti, D.L., Silvestri, S., Setola, R., Schena, E., and Massaroni, C. (2024). Towards the Instrumentation of Facemasks Used as Personal Protective Equipment for Unobtrusive Breathing Monitoring of Workers. Sensors, 24.","DOI":"10.3390\/s24175815"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pinnelli, M., Romano, C., Pulcinelli, M., Schena, E., Silvestri, S., Fortino, G., Massaroni, C., Setola, R., and Presti, D.L. (2024, January 29\u201331). A Wearable Platform as a First Step towards Enabling Collective Intelligence in Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Management: Feasibility Assessment on Healthy Volunteers. Proceedings of the 2024 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 and IoT, MetroInd4.0 and IoT 2024, Firenze, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/MetroInd4.0IoT61288.2024.10584198"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1407","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1540-8159.2010.02841.x","article-title":"A Quantitative Systematic Review of Normal Values for Short-Term Heart Rate Variability in Healthy Adults","volume":"33","author":"Nunan","year":"2010","journal-title":"Pacing Clin. Electrophysiol."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/25\/10\/3066\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T17:31:52Z","timestamp":1760031112000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/25\/10\/3066"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,13]]},"references-count":44,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5]]}},"alternative-id":["s25103066"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s25103066","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,13]]}}}