I have been in touch with another person, Scott who posts here, and in one thread described that I have two scuba units upstairs for use in case of a fire that would cut my wife and I off from exiting downstairs in our house. It would give time for us to access and deploy the emergency ladder we have at a window in case there was a lot of smoke. This was recommended my a video from one of the fire chiefs here in our Beaverton, Oregon area. Close the doors, and await rescue; but instead I figured it would be better to have a method of actually exiting the building. The scuba unit could give us time to deploy this Safety First Escape Ladder.
Well, he thought that was a great idea, and then I recalled that I had used my scuba unit in a real fire at our home. In the 1980s, we got a smoke alarm, opened the garage door to smoke in the garage. I had my wife, Chris call 911, while I entered the garage holding my breath, assembled a single 72 with a single hose regulator, turned on the air, got a few breaths, got my dive mask out, put it on and looked around breathing off the scuba. I found that our refrigerator was on fire. I got some leather gloves on, opened the garage door, disconnected the refrigerator from the 110 volt outlet (the motor was on fire), and wheeled it out the front garage door. This happened just as the fire department rolled up. They described it as seeing the garage door open, a lot of smoke come out, and a guy in diving gear wheeling the still flaming refrigerator out onto the driveway.
When I described this to Scott, he said that he had been a member of an ERT, and had a scuba unit in his truck that he kept just in case of a hazmat problem without the hazmat gear. I explained to him the APF (assigned protection factors) of various forms of respiratory protection (half-mask, 10; full-face mask, 50; SCBA, 10,000) and explained that the APF could only be used if the concentration was known of the contaminant. Otherwise, it was assumed to be IDLH, or “Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health,” and only a SCBA with positive pressure (and a APF of 10,000) could be used by ERTs.
I also told him that I believed that a diving scuba unit with a mask would be at least as protective as a positive pressure SCBA, as the potential for a contaminant to enter the air from a mouthpiece was virtually zero (or water would get in too). However, the scuba units should be used only for escape or extremely limited preventive measures (such as me pushing the refrigerator out the garage door), as the scuba unit's mouthpiece could be lost if something happened to the person. The fire department/Haz-mat team SCBA's have full-face masks, and will stay in place if the person is incapacitated.
We are curious if any others on the ScubaBoard forum have used their scuba unit in a non-diving situation where they needed an air source? Anyone put their scuba unit where it could be used in an emergency?
SeaRat
John C. Ratliff, CSP(Retired), CIH(2006-2017),* MSPH
*CSP = Certified Safety Professional; CIH = Certified Industrial Hygienist
Well, he thought that was a great idea, and then I recalled that I had used my scuba unit in a real fire at our home. In the 1980s, we got a smoke alarm, opened the garage door to smoke in the garage. I had my wife, Chris call 911, while I entered the garage holding my breath, assembled a single 72 with a single hose regulator, turned on the air, got a few breaths, got my dive mask out, put it on and looked around breathing off the scuba. I found that our refrigerator was on fire. I got some leather gloves on, opened the garage door, disconnected the refrigerator from the 110 volt outlet (the motor was on fire), and wheeled it out the front garage door. This happened just as the fire department rolled up. They described it as seeing the garage door open, a lot of smoke come out, and a guy in diving gear wheeling the still flaming refrigerator out onto the driveway.
When I described this to Scott, he said that he had been a member of an ERT, and had a scuba unit in his truck that he kept just in case of a hazmat problem without the hazmat gear. I explained to him the APF (assigned protection factors) of various forms of respiratory protection (half-mask, 10; full-face mask, 50; SCBA, 10,000) and explained that the APF could only be used if the concentration was known of the contaminant. Otherwise, it was assumed to be IDLH, or “Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health,” and only a SCBA with positive pressure (and a APF of 10,000) could be used by ERTs.
I also told him that I believed that a diving scuba unit with a mask would be at least as protective as a positive pressure SCBA, as the potential for a contaminant to enter the air from a mouthpiece was virtually zero (or water would get in too). However, the scuba units should be used only for escape or extremely limited preventive measures (such as me pushing the refrigerator out the garage door), as the scuba unit's mouthpiece could be lost if something happened to the person. The fire department/Haz-mat team SCBA's have full-face masks, and will stay in place if the person is incapacitated.
We are curious if any others on the ScubaBoard forum have used their scuba unit in a non-diving situation where they needed an air source? Anyone put their scuba unit where it could be used in an emergency?
SeaRat
John C. Ratliff, CSP(Retired), CIH(2006-2017),* MSPH
*CSP = Certified Safety Professional; CIH = Certified Industrial Hygienist