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By LAURA E. JESSE
San Antonio Express-News (Texas)

A Southwest Research Institute investigation found a defective protective coating and various loose connections on self-contained breathing apparatuses that San Antonio firefighters say are putting their lives in jeopardy.

The city attorney's office has asked Interspiro Inc., which makes the gear, to address the findings by Friday. Although a written report on the investigation is not yet available, city and fire officials were briefed on the results late Tuesday.

Since October, the Fire Department has tracked numerous failures of the devices that resulted in a complete loss of air flow during firefighting.

"Time is of the essence," Fire Chief Robert Ojeda said Wednesday in a meeting with Interspiro officials. "We've changed a lot of procedures because of this unit and we want some normalcy. We want to get back to our standard operations."

Ojeda later said at a news conference the city would decide Friday, based on Interspiro's response, how much time and money they are willing to spend on the problems.

Meanwhile, the Health and Safety Committee of the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association penned a letter to department brass expressing its complete loss of confidence in the gear.

Erik Walsh, assistant to the city manager, told Interspiro representatives they must develop procedures for any solutions and test them before presenting them to the department.

"We are not coming up with our own procedures on equipment coming from Interspiro," Walsh said. " I'm looking for Interspiro to tell us how you'll fix it and when you will fix it by."

The Southwest Research Institute investigation found that a protective coating over an aluminum portion of the cylinder valve on current models is of lesser quality, and wore down too fast, than one used on a 1996 Interspiro model, which also was tested by researchers.

Interspiro officials said they would contact Sherwood, the manufacturer of that part, to determine what level of anodization — the coating process — will work best.

"It seems to be some fundamental process change, and we need to evaluate it thoroughly," said Michael Kay, engineering director with Ocenco Inc., the parent company of Interspiro. "We need to do some variations because we can't just go back to Sherwood and say give us the same you did in 1996."

Other findings in the report address various loose connections resulting in air leaks or rapid air loss and hand wheels that can become loose and cause the seal between the tank and the air regulator to blow out.

The city spent $1.8 million early last year on the initial purchase of the breathing apparatuses, which went into use last summer.

The first problem was reported in August.

Until the problems are remedied, two district chiefs, additional firefighters, more trucks and an ambulance are required to respond to all fires, which puts fewer available units in the field and creates more overtime for the department.

Firefighters also have been told not to make deep penetrations into burning structures.

Firefighter K.C. Tabrizi asked Interspiro President Michael Brookman to consider funding another third-party test for the solutions.

"We want real-world testing," Tabrizi said. "Blow it up, run over it, I don't care, just don't walk up and down the stairs with it to test it."

No firefighters have been injured as a result of the malfunctions, but Ojeda said they have had close calls that cause great concern.

Breathing gear problems

The Southwest Research Institute investigation found:

• A protective coating over an aluminum portion of the cylinder valve is of lesser quality than one used on a 1996 Interspiro model.

•Loose connections result in air leaks or rapid air loss.

•Hand wheels can become loose and cause the seal between the tank and the air regulator to blow out.