Stop 29 – The Fire Gets More Deadly

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A MORE TOXIC ENVIRONMENT

Heat and smoke have always been dangerous. But modern building materials and furniture made with chemicals created new dangers for firefighters.

Smoke is made of tiny bits of carbon, tar, and dust floating in hot gases. Some of it is just irritating, but some of it can kill. Carbon monoxide causes most fire deaths. Burning plastic pipe gives off hydrogen chloride. Burning wool, nylon, foam, and rubber can produce hydrogen cyanide. And every fire is different. That's why the department has always worked to protect its firefighters from long-term risks.

BREATHING APPARATUS

In the nineteen-twenties, the department bought two smoke masks. They used a filter that turned deadly carbon monoxide into less harmful carbon dioxide. In nineteen thirty-eight, it bought two Chemox masks, which made oxygen from a chemical reaction with the wearer's own breath.

Toward the end of World War Two, Scott Aviation adapted its high-altitude breathing gear for pilots into equipment for firefighters, and introduced the Air-Pak in late nineteen forty-five. Nebraska City tested one in September of nineteen forty-nine, even with an underwater demonstration at the city pool, and bought a single unit. It was the forerunner of what firefighters use today. The department now has thirty-four in service.

A modern self-contained breathing apparatus has four main parts: the backpack and harness, the air cylinder, the regulator, and the face piece.