By Ron Brown & Faris Tanyos
 
August 1, 2008
 
NEAR GASQUET, Ore. -- The Blue 2 fire burning near Crescent City has now spread to over 6,500 acres and is 30 percent contained.
 
Meanwhile, firefighters on the Blue 2 fire are taking part in a forest service study to see if changes in lunches can improve firefighter performance and endurance.
 
A nine-member team from the University of Montana selected 100 of the nearly 400 firefighters battling the Blue 2 to carry lunches designed to be eaten in small portions throughout their shift. Researchers say they're treating firefighters like athletes.
 
"The feedback that we get from these lunches prepared for them, simply, do they like the food? And are they eating it across the day? And that's our goal. We know that they'll do more work then. And they'll be safer, which is really our number one goal," says University of Montana Researcher Dr. Steve Gaskill.
 
Gaskill says firefighters burn as many calories in a 14-hour shift as a runner would in a marathon race. Gaskill's team is also conducting another study on fire managers at the Blue 2 camp. Researchers are using saliva tests, questionnaires, and motion detecting watches while they sleep to examine stress on members of the management team.
 
The researchers from the Missoula Technology Development Center have been working on improving firefighter performance for about six years. They say they will move to other California fires in the next week to gather more data.