Recent Line of Duty Deaths Disturbing Trend

[sueg 77]

There has been an increasing amount of LODD reports of firefighters and EMS of all ages and physical conditions dropping on scene or within 24 hours lately of sudden cardiac arrest, some after working heavy fire scenes. The FDNY and Houston FD firefighters who recently went down on scene and were pulled out in full cardiac arrest were relatively young, very experienced, and had the same descriptor about their original condition - burns around the face, nose and mouth and inhalation burns. The LODD reports are going to take about 12-18 months for the full investigations and reports to be done. Last year during the summer or fall there was a report issued stating that SCBA face pieces were showing up that were defective in materials and craftsmanship and they found in a number of cases that the face pieces were either melting in less than extreme conditions or the glue binding the face piece to the rest of the mask was failing, injuring more and more firefighters. If that were the case in these instances, neither firefighter stood a chance because of the situation they were in, because by the time they would have noticed it, they were too deep into the fire area, and that would make their deaths even more tragic. Right now that would just be conjecture, but the possibility exists.

We have fit testing every year with our personal masks. With the Departments that go through a lot of masks and fire work/calls, could they be starting to fail and letting in CO and other poisonous gases, which in a cumulative amount could lead to a LODD but not be suspected as the initial cause? I can imagine FF throwing the mask on and not fully checking for full seal when having back-to-back calls due to them being confident they are putting it on right, and they are, but short of testing each and every time, which would seem ridiculous, can anyone see how to catch these defective masks before a catastrophic failure?

Wish there was an easy way...............

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Sue, it's probably a little early to speculate as to whether or not face piece failures were a factor in either of these LODDs. If there was some kind of issue I'm sure the FDNY Safety Battalion or NIOSH will note that when the investigations conclude. Trying to nail down a trend right now would be premature, in my opinion.

[jd783 64]

On the subject Just a little reading material for all intrested

http://firefightertoolbox.com/firefighter-ppe-whats-our-weakest-link/

[antiquefirelt 994]

I'm a little unclear as to the "defects of the masks" that may be found? A few things come to mind at first glance: 1)At some point every FF must be responsible for his/her own safety and health, so properly checking your seal is necessary and cannot be passed off. 2) if the mask is defective, the air will pass by and leak out faster, which is a hazard, but will not allow CO and other gases in, until you're out of air (no one is using demand type SCBA right?)

[16fire5 693]

The problem with the SCBA facepieces was not that there was an issue of inferior workmanship. After a number of LODDs and serious injuries NIST did some investigation and determined that the tests that a facepiece required to pass NFPA certification were inferior to those that the rest of the PPE needed to pass. After some some hard work by NIST and their work with the NFPA committee the most recent SCBA standard (1981-2013) greatly increases the performance requirements of SCBA. All facepieces now being sold are compliant with the standard. The IAFC issued an alert on the subject a few years ago and recommended that fire departments budget to replace facepieces upon adoption of the new standard. I know some have done so.

Does this have anything to do with the most recent LODDs? Only time will tell.

What must be remembered is that even with the advancements in PPE in the last 40 years if you are in a flashover with even the best PPE you have less than 20 seconds. Gear is so good now that firefighters that have found themselves in some of these "flow-path" incidents have actually received fatal burn injuries inside their gear that did not degrade. The true weak link in the whole ensemble is the human inside the gear.

My personal opinion is our best defense is the smart firefighter that is able to understand the situation and match the strategy and tactics they employ with the situation they find.

Sorry if I sound like a broken record.