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How to determine if your PPE is contaminated, and this includes Leather Helmets...
GROSS DECON / TFT NOZZLE SAFETY NOTE: It is imperative for your firefighters to ensure that the TFT nozzles are free from any debris or rocks. Any interruption of the fog pattern results will not create a fine mist but instead heavier droplets which can cause severe tissue damage to chemical exposure victims. This is specially true when using elevated master stream appliances.
Remember that chemicals burn the skin and deep. “Do no more harm” is an important factor here.
You've rescued someone, got them through a gross decon. safely transferred them to someone for secondary (more thorough) decontamination. So there you are, you did a good job, lives were saved but your still contaminated? Well, if you went through gross decon, chances are pretty good that you have removed the majority of contamination.
THE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION IS USUALLY DILUTION...
Rules for Removing Contamination: Remember that by simply removing clothing, 85% of the chemical contamination and over 95% for radiological contamination can be removed.
Question: But there remains one problem... how do you know if your turnouts are fully decontaminated? When can the turnouts be returned to the firefighter?
Using Leather in Hazardous Atmospheres: Here’s why leather helmets may want to be reconsidered as the helmet of choice, especially when dealing with this type of scenario. Leather absorbs toxins... boots, gloves, belt, helmets, all easily absorb chemicals and from what I’ve read to date, cannot be decontaminated. So now what? Maybe your one of the lucky firefighters who’s family bought them one of those cool Cairns leather helmets when you promoted or maybe you just bought that brand new pair of boots. And the turnouts ensemble, I have not priced these lately but we are talking over a $1,000.00 for both the turnout jacket and pants. But I would not be writing this bad news doomsday scenario unless I had an escape route, and I do...
Determining Whether Your Stuff is Contaminated: There are two ways that I know of to determine whether or not your PPE has been contaminated. The first is very costly and requires special materials and shipping containers to ship the samples to a lab for testing. This testing process is called destructive testing and requires a swatch of material from the chest area and one from the bottom of your turnout pants. It’s not uncommon to have a set of turnouts decontaminated with sections of jacket or pants missing and replacement patches clearly visible. Special Teflon shipping containers are used to ensure that any off-gassing is captured but not absorbed by the shipping container. The PPE samples are placed into a gas chromatography device that burns the samples and prints out a signature strip that shows peaks for the various chemicals.
We all know that when something burns it actually decomposes. This decompositional process of materials results in off-gassing of product and normally contains, aldehydes, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons, organic vapors and mists, and unburned radicals that reform in many different compounds, many carcinogens. The most dangerous time to be in a structure fire is during overhaul and mop-up. This is when the concrete is cooling and releasing this stuff into the atmosphere. This type of material is typically found in our turnouts from exposure to things that burn or decompose. The problem arises for those who don’t routinely wash their turnout gear. Oils that permeated the turnouts have the ability to also attract the products of decomposition.
Exposure over a long period of time for some or short periods of time for others can elicit a trigger in your system that causes cancer. I’ve been told that simply pumping gas, and being exposed to the benzene in gasoline in some individuals can elicit a chain reaction with cancer taking their live, from just one exposure. While this is certainly not the norm, what you have to remember is that exposures to hazardous chemicals is accumulative and cancers take decades in some cases to present any symptoms.
If you are a real firefighter then only you will truly understand my next statement. How long after a structure fire does it take to stop smelling smoke after washing your hair? One day, two days, more? Yup, typically it is several days until you no longer smell smoke, or more specifically, the products of decomposition. You’ve been dosed my friend... and how many times?
So now you are really wondering if it’s safe to put your PPE back on but you can’t really justify spending over a grand on having your PPE tested. It’s not that you don’t want to, it’s just that you need some sort of clue to let you know if it’s something that you need to do. I do have an answer and you can test your own
PPE for maybe under $50.00 per set of PPE. How is this done? And so inexpensively?
You need a 35-gallon clear polybag and a selection of draeger tubes Place the suspected turnouts, boots, helmet, everything into the bag and capture air in the bag. You need to spin the top of the bag, making a gooseneck. Tape the bottom of the gooseneck, keep it twisted and bring the “gooseneck” back onto itself to keep the air trapped inside the bag. Now set it in the sun or a heat lamp to cause the things in the bag to develop a condensate inside the bag. What ever is on the turnouts will be off-gassed and released inside the bags atmosphere. In fact, the bag will actually expand due to this release of moisture inside the bag.
Now take your assortment of draeger tubes and with piece of duct tape ready, simply puncture the bag and draw air through the draeger pump for each chemical that you test for. What draeger tubes should you use? If you know what the exact product is, then you are golden. If you don’t and something burned, then the chemicals exposure mantra comes into place, eg. Aldehydes, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons and organic vapors and mists is a good start. Keep in mind that other things out there can off gas some pretty nasty stuff. Wool carpet for example emits cyanide gas... My hazmat scenario with the rat poison emited phosgene gas. It’s all bad but at least now you have a way to make an educated guess as to whether or not your turnouts or leather products are safe to continue wearing or where you may have to consider getting rid of stuff. Tough choice but if you have to, at least your doing so knowing that it was definitely contaminated.
I hope you find this information useful and practical toward mitigating dangerous conditions involving hazardous chemical exposures for firefighters.
Fraternally,
Mike Schlags, Fire Captain / Hazmat WMD Specialist Instructor
Santa Barbara, CA
mschlags@yahoo.com
Remember that chemicals burn the skin and deep. “Do no more harm” is an important factor here.
You've rescued someone, got them through a gross decon. safely transferred them to someone for secondary (more thorough) decontamination. So there you are, you did a good job, lives were saved but your still contaminated? Well, if you went through gross decon, chances are pretty good that you have removed the majority of contamination.
THE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION IS USUALLY DILUTION...
Rules for Removing Contamination: Remember that by simply removing clothing, 85% of the chemical contamination and over 95% for radiological contamination can be removed.
Question: But there remains one problem... how do you know if your turnouts are fully decontaminated? When can the turnouts be returned to the firefighter?
Using Leather in Hazardous Atmospheres: Here’s why leather helmets may want to be reconsidered as the helmet of choice, especially when dealing with this type of scenario. Leather absorbs toxins... boots, gloves, belt, helmets, all easily absorb chemicals and from what I’ve read to date, cannot be decontaminated. So now what? Maybe your one of the lucky firefighters who’s family bought them one of those cool Cairns leather helmets when you promoted or maybe you just bought that brand new pair of boots. And the turnouts ensemble, I have not priced these lately but we are talking over a $1,000.00 for both the turnout jacket and pants. But I would not be writing this bad news doomsday scenario unless I had an escape route, and I do...
Determining Whether Your Stuff is Contaminated: There are two ways that I know of to determine whether or not your PPE has been contaminated. The first is very costly and requires special materials and shipping containers to ship the samples to a lab for testing. This testing process is called destructive testing and requires a swatch of material from the chest area and one from the bottom of your turnout pants. It’s not uncommon to have a set of turnouts decontaminated with sections of jacket or pants missing and replacement patches clearly visible. Special Teflon shipping containers are used to ensure that any off-gassing is captured but not absorbed by the shipping container. The PPE samples are placed into a gas chromatography device that burns the samples and prints out a signature strip that shows peaks for the various chemicals.
We all know that when something burns it actually decomposes. This decompositional process of materials results in off-gassing of product and normally contains, aldehydes, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons, organic vapors and mists, and unburned radicals that reform in many different compounds, many carcinogens. The most dangerous time to be in a structure fire is during overhaul and mop-up. This is when the concrete is cooling and releasing this stuff into the atmosphere. This type of material is typically found in our turnouts from exposure to things that burn or decompose. The problem arises for those who don’t routinely wash their turnout gear. Oils that permeated the turnouts have the ability to also attract the products of decomposition.
Exposure over a long period of time for some or short periods of time for others can elicit a trigger in your system that causes cancer. I’ve been told that simply pumping gas, and being exposed to the benzene in gasoline in some individuals can elicit a chain reaction with cancer taking their live, from just one exposure. While this is certainly not the norm, what you have to remember is that exposures to hazardous chemicals is accumulative and cancers take decades in some cases to present any symptoms.
If you are a real firefighter then only you will truly understand my next statement. How long after a structure fire does it take to stop smelling smoke after washing your hair? One day, two days, more? Yup, typically it is several days until you no longer smell smoke, or more specifically, the products of decomposition. You’ve been dosed my friend... and how many times?
So now you are really wondering if it’s safe to put your PPE back on but you can’t really justify spending over a grand on having your PPE tested. It’s not that you don’t want to, it’s just that you need some sort of clue to let you know if it’s something that you need to do. I do have an answer and you can test your own
PPE for maybe under $50.00 per set of PPE. How is this done? And so inexpensively?
You need a 35-gallon clear polybag and a selection of draeger tubes Place the suspected turnouts, boots, helmet, everything into the bag and capture air in the bag. You need to spin the top of the bag, making a gooseneck. Tape the bottom of the gooseneck, keep it twisted and bring the “gooseneck” back onto itself to keep the air trapped inside the bag. Now set it in the sun or a heat lamp to cause the things in the bag to develop a condensate inside the bag. What ever is on the turnouts will be off-gassed and released inside the bags atmosphere. In fact, the bag will actually expand due to this release of moisture inside the bag.
Now take your assortment of draeger tubes and with piece of duct tape ready, simply puncture the bag and draw air through the draeger pump for each chemical that you test for. What draeger tubes should you use? If you know what the exact product is, then you are golden. If you don’t and something burned, then the chemicals exposure mantra comes into place, eg. Aldehydes, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons and organic vapors and mists is a good start. Keep in mind that other things out there can off gas some pretty nasty stuff. Wool carpet for example emits cyanide gas... My hazmat scenario with the rat poison emited phosgene gas. It’s all bad but at least now you have a way to make an educated guess as to whether or not your turnouts or leather products are safe to continue wearing or where you may have to consider getting rid of stuff. Tough choice but if you have to, at least your doing so knowing that it was definitely contaminated.
I hope you find this information useful and practical toward mitigating dangerous conditions involving hazardous chemical exposures for firefighters.
Fraternally,
Mike Schlags, Fire Captain / Hazmat WMD Specialist Instructor
Santa Barbara, CA
mschlags@yahoo.com
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
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We have a policy that all gear must be washed post fires. I think your idea is a great one and a very inexpensive option. As far as my leather helmet and boots go, if I know it is a hazmat call (team member here), I take my spare rubber boots and 1010. But, if my gear gets trashed and contaminated, it has to be replaced. My full time department will replace what they issue, not so sure about the vollie department as far as my lid goes. But, that is the cost of doing business I suppose. It would suck to lose my helmet for this reason. I regularly, strip and repaint my lid as needed. The big thing with leather helmets, is the care and maintenance of it. If you let it get to the point where the paint is gone and there are cracks, you are inviting more problems. It may not prevent everything, bup keeping it painted and sealed has to help.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Mike,
Would you mind if I sent this around to our haz-mat people and post it on my website? I would definately provide acknowledgement as you being the author..
Bill Greenwood
FETC
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Interesting idea, if one has access to the required Draeger equipment. In my neck of the woods, we have the county haz-mat team to really get down and dirty in the hot zone, with the appropriate level suits matched to the hazardous materials involved. The first response agencies should not be involved directly with the stuff other than to do quick evacuations or assessments.
Structure gear that has been contaminated or suspected of, is bagged and taken to an approved launderer of such PPE. If unable to decon the stuff, it's disposed of and replacement gear is needed... supposedly courtesy of the person or firm that caused the mess.
I think the subject of contamination from regular combustion by-products has been discussed elsewhere on FFN, but needs to be given a lot more attention. Not too long ago my face and neck were itchy after a job and the point about having clean turnouts, especially hoods, was driven home yet again.
Nice pic by the way, although I'm guessing thermal burns?
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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Mike,
Yet another educational and insightful post brother. I look forward to stuff from you and was wondering if you would like to fly out here and train my county team?? lol Thanks for sharing all of this knowledge with us. Thats exactly why I will not buy leather boots. Its not only the deadly haz-mat that will contaminate the leather, its ANY haz-mat found in residential homes, kitchens and bathrooms, and basements and garages. The leather soaks it up and its no good anymore, so I will stick to my regular "Rubbers" and my 1010.
Excellent post brother.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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Hi Bill,
I want to let everyone know who reads any of my posts that the reason I am sharing this stuff is to ensure that everyone gets to go home the next morning... I've been involved in this field for over 30 years now. I have written both state and national guidelines and am constantly amazed at the so called experts out there that both write and dictate how I do my job...
With my posts, I am drawing the line and calling bulls*&$... We work an incredibly dangerous job and what makes it more of a risk is that some of the exposures we receive will not present themselves for decades. I remember as a young firefighter wearing respiratory protection on a brush fire. The older crew leader with my called me a (female cat...) and thought it was not necessary to wear a respirator. This individual, who is my friend, was diagnosed with non-operative brain cancer... WE CAN PREVENT PREMATURE FIREFIGHTER DEATHS AND LONG TERM DISABILITY!
This is why I write and post the things that I do. Please give credit for things that I author and maybe send me a note telling me how wonderful I am... maybe even offer to buy me a cup of coffee... and maybe, if you REALLY like what I shared, you might consider sending me one of your hazmat team patches.
The things I share with you all is from the heart. I truly care about all of you and this is my way of showing this. So Bill, or anyone else out there who wants to share my stuff, consider the material free to share. And if you have not figured it out, I am a teacher and have loved this part of my job the best. If anyone has any questions about hazmat, response, tactics or prevention issues, I just a few keyboard clicks away, plus I love traveling to teach... and to think that I'm just getting warmed up here on the FFN. Stay tuned for more cool hazmat stuff in the future.
"It's all about being able to go home the next morning!"
TCSS as always... Mike Schlags, Fire Captain, Santa Barbara, CA
mschlags@yahoo.com
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I'm available anytime Brian even though I am saying this without looking at where you are located. To be honest, some of the best classes that I have taught were in Michigan and Kansas. I have never been to the east coast but look forward to someday travelling back east. Take care Mooseman! Your fan, Mike : )
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Ok, so again, maybe I fudged just a tad on the photo but it gets the point across. And yes they were 4th degree burns, but from chemical exposure which look just like a thermal burn but as mentioned in prior posts, the chemical insult goes to the cellular levels with the chemicals getting into the lymphatic system, which distributes the chemical(s) all over your body... Now you have to think detoxification... I have so much to share and write, it all just takes time. And by the way Joe, the recent post about who your hero's were... you are mine. ms
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Mike,
Would a PID accomplish the same idea? I know you would not necessarily know what the contaminant was, just the presence of one. I am really looking forward to your posts, they really make some thought happen.
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Of course the PID would be a great tool but here is what I did not mention. After use of the colormetric tube(s), these tubes are then taped to the outside of the clear polybag for visual reference. The PID would give you a reading but does not provide a way to make a permanent record, which is a good thing if you are dealing with documenting and separating contaminated from non-contaminated...
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Permalink Reply by Justin Buck on
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wow i just learned something today. i like this site i have learned something every day
thanks
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Permalink Reply by josh slagel on
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very good post i learned alot i learn something every time i get on here.
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As far as taping the tubes to the bag for reference goes, this will only show what you have tested or drawn tubes for. The tubes will change with time and the results will not necessarily still be there. To combat this, we take a picture of the tubes when we are at a scene that may require them to be used for a permanent record or evidence. I agree that the PID will not give a definitive result, but it may be more important to separate contaminated from non-contaminated then really needing to know what the contaminate is, if we are sending them out for decon or disposal.
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