| Editor’s note: Since this article was published, The Decatur Daily has subsequently run a follow-up piece that carries a response from Sperian, which owns the Survivair brand. Company spokesman Bill Sokol said while the department had reported problems with its equipment, he said the devices were not defective and investigations by the company had not detected any problems. Click here for the full article. |
By Evan Belanger
The Decatur Daily, Ala.
DECATUR, Ala. — Decatur officials are investigating options for replacing firefighters’ breathing devices, which local fire officials say are faulty and could endanger the firefighters who use them.
Claims of ongoing problems with the city fire department’s breathing devices, known as SCBAs or Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, surfaced during a City Council meeting this week.
Fire and Rescue Chief Charlie Johnson told the council he had exhausted all options for remedying chronic failures in the devices that Decatur firefighters use when entering burning buildings.
He said he had documented 23 failures since he instructed firefighters to begin notifying him of problems with the devices in December 2007.
“We need to upgrade, buy new equipment and get something that’s going to be functional where these guys will have confidence in it,” Johnson said. “There’s no confidence in these right now, because they never know if they’re going to work.”
Lt. Craig Corum, president of the local firefighters union, said the problem stems from a design flaw in the facemasks of the department’s Panther-model breathing units, manufactured by California-based Survivair, a French-owned company.
He told the council a valve in the masks’ regulators can stick shut, cutting off the user’s air supply. But the company refuses to acknowledge the problem because of mounting legal suits nationwide, he said.
“I’ve got e-mail after e-mail that the chief has received where the mask has failed prior to going into a fire,” Corum said. “We’ve lucked out.”
All of the fire department’s more than 50 breathing devices are of the same design, Corum said.
Corum, who is certified to rebuild the breathing devices, testified about chronic problems with the masks in a 2007 lawsuit against Survivair.
In that case, the family of a fallen St. Louis firefighter, Derek Martin, claimed a faulty Panther-model breathing unit manufactured by Survivair contributed to the firefighter’s death at a 2002 fire. The jury agreed, awarding the family $27 million. The company appealed the decision.
The family of another St. Louis firefighter, Robert Morrison, who died in the same blaze as Martin, also sued Survivair. The parties reached a confidential settlement in that case.
In Decatur, Corum said, the fire department typically has at least one mask failure per shift. The failures are usually detected during morning checks or before the firefighter enters a burning building, he said.
No injuries reported
The department has not reported any injuries as a result of the masks.
Johnson said the department has worked with Survivair for years in an effort to correct the problem or eliminate all possible causes. In 2007, he said, the company sent the department replacement valves of the same design, but the problem did not go away.
At the manufacturer’s advice, the department investigated cleaning issues and other possible causes without success.
Survivair has since sent another batch of identical valves, which Johnson said the department would install. But he was not optimistic the measure would correct the problem.
“We have done everything that we possibly can,” he said. “It’s been very frustrating, because we just cannot put our finger on what is causing this.”
In the meantime, the city’s chief financial officer, Gail Busbey, said city officials were working to replace the department’s breathing devices as soon as possible. On Tuesday, she said they were compiling a specification list to seek bids for new units.
“We want to get the units as quickly as possible, but we want to make sure we get the specs right so we can get the right product,” she said.
In order to replace the facemasks, the city must also replace the associated air tanks and other equipment because the various parts that comprise a breathing device are not interchangeable with parts made by other manufacturers.
“We feel this needs to be done now, before somebody gets hurt,” Corum told the council.
Johnson told the council he probably would not recommend the city purchase Survivair units again, because the company has not altered the valves in its mask design.
“Right now, with these mask failures, I can’t in good conscience recommend that we buy the same masks again,” he said.
The City Council also took action to expedite replacing the devices, setting tentative plans in motion to purchase new breather units with available capital funds this year.
That push came after Johnson approached the council seeking permission to apply for a $402,168 grant to purchase new breathing devices. But the councilmen rejected the proposal when they learned that the federal government likely would not award the grant until September.
Instead, they approved the grant application, but did not specify its intended purpose. That enables Johnson to apply for other firefighting equipment while the council considers purchasing breathing units from capital funds.
Council President Greg Reeves said he expects the council to discuss its capital budget during a work session Monday morning.
“What I’m hearing is this is something that needs to be addressed as soon as possible,” he said.
Reeves also raised the possibility of a legal remedy, saying he would contact law firms in the state to inquire if any were interested in making a class-action case regarding the alleged defects.
Additionally, he instructed City Attorney Herman Marks to contact the plaintiff’s counsel in the St. Louis case and the state attorney general’s office for information.
New safety standards
Johnson said the department needs to upgrade its breathing equipment soon to meet new safety standards. Some of the breathing devices have been in service since Johnson became chief seven years ago.
He said the new equipment would provide additional safety features and increase the firefighters’ air-supply from 30 minutes to 60 minutes.
Requests for comment from Survivair’s corporate headquarters were not returned Tuesday or Wednesday.
Copyright 2009 The Decatur Daily