Students at Valdosta State University are helping to make the duties of local firefighters a little bit safer. Students in the Exercise Physiology program are moving out of the classroom and in to the fire working with the Valdosta and Lowndes County Fire Departments as crews go through fire training. The students measure heart rate and core body temperature before, during and after the firefighters go through training. The goal is to better understand and assess how they respond to the heat and stress of battling flames. "Understand their individual responses to this very hard work, and to allow them a new way and new idea going forward of how to keep our firefighters safe," said Dr. Serina McEntire professor at VSU.