BARGERSVILLE The freezing temperatures are slowing down response times for many emergency calls across Indiana.Bargersville Deputy Chief Mike Pruitt shares what you can do to speed up the process and how the cold weather affects equipment."Things start to break when it's cold especially we got that we get closer to zero it even gets worse," said Pruitt. "We've had to pull people out because the fire apparatus failed." Pruitt says many back-ups are in place so if that happens there's a plan. He says the temperatures can water supply and hoses.So we tried an experiment to see what the cold water could do to a firefighter's equipment. After a short amount of time, the jacket froze and got much heavier than usual."It becomes stiff and hard to maneuver in and can be very difficult to use this equipment and it adds weight," said Pruitt. "If you apply this to our air packs, gloves, hose or any other and it really makes it tough on firefighters." We probably saw some of that today when Indianapolis had a large fire this morning. He says more firefighters and staff are having to respond to calls because of the barriers cold weather poses.Also top of mind right now is the cold weather's threat to your body when it comes to frostbite and other illnesses.The department is seeing lots of calls for flu and urges you to clear your driveways so theres a direct path to get to whoever needs assistance.RELATED | Fire departments warn about the dangers of lithium battery fires Fire departments warn about the dangers of lithium battery fires