Fla. firefighters receive CO monitors

Joyce Mckenzie
The Tampa Tribune

TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. — The Temple Terrace Fire Department will use a federal grant to purchase devices that are attached to a patient's finger to monitor carbon monoxide levels in the bloodstream.

Temple Terrace's $32,360 Assistance to Firefighters Grant is one of the last to be allocated from a total of $490 million in 2007 Federal Emergency Management Agency grants, including $4.7 million to 39 fire departments in Florida, according to Fire Chief Keith Chapman.

The department will purchase nine of the carbon monoxide monitors, which detect people's intake of the colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. It's produced through the incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels such as oil, gasoline and wood when there is inadequate air supply.

Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause dizziness, unconsciousness and even death by reducing the amount of oxygen in a person's blood.

"It can occur during the salvage and cleanup time, so this will be a means to protect our firefighters from a potentially toxic situation," Chapman said. "They will also be useful during hurricanes when generators that give off carbon monoxide are in use."

The devices, which cost about $4,000 apiece, will be used to monitor firefighters and members of the public. They will be placed in each of the department's trucks.

With its 2006 FEMA grant of $80,892, the department purchased a system to keep firetruck exhaust from leaking into the firefighters' quarters and administrative offices at Temple Terrace Fire Station No. 1.

Since 2001, more than $3.3 billion in Assistance to Firefighters Grants have been given to U.S. fire departments and first responder organizations to purchase response and personal safety equipment, vehicles and materials that promote fire prevention activities.

The awards are based on the applicants' operating budgets and safety priorities and must fit within the funding guidelines of the National Preparedness Directorate and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA received more than 20,000 applications for the 2007 grants.

"There is a slew of questions they ask on the application, but for us it's been well worth the effort," Chapman said.

City Manager Kim Leinbach said he encourages his departments to apply for grants.

"I'm pleased our fire department received the grant because we want to keep up our level of service," he said. "EMS receives more calls by far than those for any other service."