Copyright 2006 San Antonio Express-News
All Rights Reserved
By LAURA E. JESSE
San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
A new safety alert was issued to all San Antonio firefighters Tuesday warning of another defect on the department’s self-contained breathing apparatus.
The air tanks, manufactured by Interspiro Inc., have been the focal point of an investigation and back-and-forth negotiations between the city and the company. Various problems with the equipment have resulted in firefighters losing air from the tanks, but no injuries.
The newest problem, which department technicians identified in 14 masks, is the breaking of a plastic piece that attaches the mask to the air supply, Deputy Chief Rodney Hitzfelder said.
The breaks were not found during active firefighting, he added.
In the safety alert, Hitzfelder wrote that in some cases the part of the mask showed signs of impact while others had no apparent signs of damage.
“This is making an already dangerous job even more dangerous,” said Nathan Alonzo, a union representative. “This is a different life and safety hazard that we are working with the city to get resolved.”
Interspiro officials maintain the damage is caused by firefighters bumping the equipment or dropping it.
Hitzfelder said they notified the company of the latest issue and were told the department would receive some replacement parts.
He said department officials would soon be calling other fire departments that use the same model to see if they have had similar problems.
“I’m not sure that’s going to address the problem in and of itself,” he said. “We’re looking for a permanent fix.”
Earlier this month, the city met with Interspiro officials and presented a letter demanding six other problems be addressed with solutions and timelines for them to be implemented.
The meeting followed the release of a Southwest Research Institute investigation of the gear which found, among other things, that the protective coating on the aluminum cylinder valve is of lesser quality than that of an older model.
Assistant Chief Carl Wedige said the company’s response needed to be clarified on a few points.
Last week Hitzfelder said the company did provide clarified timelines, which he said the city will hold the company to.
“We expect every issue to be addressed within the timelines they provided,” he added. “As the city manager said, we expect them to bear all the costs.”
According to numbers provided by the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association’s Health and Safety Committee, the department has had a total of 174 reported issues with the equipment as of the end of January.
A little more than 100 of those involved a hand wheel at the regulator that loosens on its own, causing air to leak from the tank. The company said it would retrofit all 400-plus airtanks with a locking hand wheel device within seven weeks.
Because of the ongoing problems, of which the first was reported in August, the Fire Department brass have asked firefighters not to perform deep penetrations into burning structures. More trucks, firefighters, an additional district chief and an EMS unit also must respond to all fires as a result of the defects.
The equipment was purchased for $1.8 million and was put in service in June.