Out-of-Air Emergenry: Using Technology to Survive

摘要

The fire service must embrace current tech-nology to help reduce firefighter injuries and deaths. It's about going home to your family and protecting your fellow firefighters. In every line-of-duty death (LODD), a member's future plans have been cut short by a preventable accident or by inherent firefighting dangers that could have been mitigated (photo 1). Recent training and technological advances have shown promise in helping attain the goal of reducing the 100 LODDs that occur every year. A new "last chance" air-purifying respirator is a vital missing component to our current self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) ensemble. Note that it is a "component"-not a stand-alone device; it is to be used only in an emergency as the firefighter's last chance for survival if he runs out of air. Historically, firefighters equipped with a mask with a chest-mounted regulator and a low-pressure hose to the mask were trained to tuck the hose into their flannel-lined bunker coat if caught in an out-of-air situation. Although not effective for filtering out smoke toxins, it provided a crude air-purifying respirator. It also demonstrated firefighters' awareness that an out-of-air emergency is a real possibility and that they should have a backup plan. Because of materials used in current building construction and furnishings, smoke is now more toxic than ever, thus heightening the need for a last-chance respirator. The only other environment in which an out-of-air emergency occurs is that of scuba divers; many now carry pony bottles or emergency breathing devices for such emergencies. Since many fire departments have underwater rescue and recovery teams, why are divers-and not firefighters-equipped with emergency breathing devices when firefighters will find themselves in hostile environments more frequently? Carrying a five-minute escape SCBA is one possibility; but even if its weight negates its viability, how much time would this actually buy in a high-stress situation?