Menu
Firefighters get updated breathing devices
McCOOK, Neb. — City of McCook firefighters should be able to breathe a little easier, literally, thanks to new firefighting masks they expect to receive in the coming weeks. The McCook City Council awarded a $142,451 bid to purchase 20 new “self-contained breathing apparatus” to Sandry Fire Supply last week.
The new equipment is expected to arrive in the next 10-12 weeks and was purchased through a lease-purchase program which included a $15,000 down payment approved by City Council in the current budget and annual payments going forward.
National Fire Protection Association standards implemented in 2013 and intended to resolve a variety of safety issues made the fire department’s current equipment obsolete. During a visit with the Gazette earlier this week, Fire Chief Marc Harpham said the new standards primarily addressed three areas; increased facepiece integrity, improved communication and an improved low oxygen alarm.
“The SCBA facepieces manufactured prior to the new standard have experienced some catastrophic failures in the field,” said Chief Harpham. The older facepiece lens was designed to “breathe” with the heat, however, they would sometimes begin to fail and bubble, he explained.
“The firefighter would assume this was steam or condensation on the facepiece and go to wipe it off with a glove and actually pull the facepiece away from the mask. This obviously resulted in injuries and death,” said Chief Harpham, adding the new standards address the issue.
Radio communication will also be much improved with the new equipment, thanks to Bluetooth technology.
“The SCBAs manufactured prior to the new standard make it very difficult to communicate via radio without an additional voice amplification system. Therefore, when firefighters attempt to communicate via handheld radio, their voices are muffled and difficult, if not impossible to understand,” said Chief Harpham. The new equipment allows firefighters to Bluetooth their radios with the SCBAs. “So that the voice communication is much better, making it easier to hear and understand radio traffic,” said Chief Harpham.
The updates to national standards implemented in 2013, known as NFPA Standard #1981, also included increasing the low-oxygen alarm threshold for SCBAs, from 25 percent of capacity to 33 percent of capacity.
“This alarm notifies the firefighter that they need to change out the bottle within a short amount of time, 3 to 5 minutes before the cylinder will be completely empty. Studies of firefighter injuries and fatalities, especially in the newer construction type fires, show that this is not enough time,” said Chief Harpham.
Other items during last week’s regular City Council meeting:
* Mayor Mike Gonzales thanked emergency responders assisting on a tragic house fire that killed an Indianola couple in late December.
“I would like to thank the fire department for their assistance down in Indianola on that fire. I know it’s tough on everybody and even though you’re trained, it’s still tough on the men and we appreciate what they do. Thank you very much,” said Mayor Gonzales.
* A claim for damages from Scott Tobias of McCook was received and submitted to the city’s insurance carrier without comment. Tobias is seeking reimbursement for the damage his 2014 Cadillac suffered while traveling on a rough patch of West 5th Street in mid-December.
The claim indicates his vehicle struck a “chuck” hole which split two tires on the sidewall and damaged one aluminum wheel, causing an estimated $950 in repairs. The accident occurred just north of the intersection of West 5th Street and Westridge Parkway.
* City Council received and filed a financial report for the fiscal period ending on Nov. 30, 2017, without comment. The “Treasurer’s Report” provides the beginning cash balances as of Oct. 1, 2017, plus year-to-date receipts, minus disbursements, giving the ending cash balance as of Nov. 30, 2017, according to the agenda item.