By Jill Taylor
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
Copyright 2006 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
STUART, Fla. — It's going to cost more than $1 million to outfit Martin County's 300 firefighters with new breathing equipment to replace the 11-year-old gear they wear now while fighting fires and sopping up chemical and fuel spills.
It's a big expense, but there isn't any choice in the matter, fire officials said. The county has agreed to abide by national standards, and the standards that take effect next year can't be met with the equipment in use now.
"We have enough parts to keep our equipment going for at least two years," Training Chief Jeff Alter said.
After that, the county would have to begin replacing the air packs piecemeal, which would create problems with compatibility with the old units.
Instead, fire officials have asked the county to set aside $350,000 a year for three years to allow the purchase of new air masks for every firefighter, about 120 air packs and 300 air bottles.
A committee is researching the types of equipment that will meet the new standards but expects the units will cost up to $5,000 each. The committee also may ask manufacturers to provide a limited amount of equipment on a trial basis.
Fire officials hope they can work out a lease-purchase that would bring in the new equipment sooner than the three-year budget plan.
The old units are wearing out after more than a decade of extreme heat, nasty vapors and the rough handling of those who are in a rough business.
"Firefighting is not ballet. It's ice hockey," Alter said. "The maintenance issues are starting to build."
New rules national firefighting safety officials adopted bring new technology to the equipment, including gauges that will display air supply levels on the helmet shield, sensors that will send an alert if the firefighter stops breathing and equipment that will allow better radio communications.
Under the system used now, firefighters inside a fire scene hold their radios up to their face masks to communicate and the result often sounds like a person talking under water. The new units will attach directly to the radio system.
Optional features the committee will consider are tracking systems that would display each firefighter's status on a computer screen and a GPS system that would provide locations.
"We've come a long, long way," said Battalion Chief Scott Legg, who handles much of the maintenance and testing on the air packs.
The maintenance issues have made servicing the packs almost a full-time job, Alter said. The new equipment should cut down on that work considerably.
"We should see some savings there," he said.
