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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on March 25, 2013 at 5:14pm

What are you or dept using to clean the facepiece? It could be some reaction to the cleaning products and perhaps not a thorough rinsing of the product from the facepiece. I do believe most SCBA facepieces are made from a silicone rubber and not latex, especially considering the number of latex issues out there, I would doubt yor facepiece is latex. If it is, however, and you are using an older style facepiece, then your dept should be providing you with with a latex free version, it should not be your issue to resolve.

 

If you never had a problem before, look into a better cleaning of the facepiece and better rinsing. When you ve the facepiece on, you will sweat, which in turn opens pores, and it doesn't take much for your skin to absorb what may be on the facepiece. I would be looking at doing a good cleaning and thorough rinse of the facepiece before believing it is an issue with the materials.

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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on March 25, 2013 at 7:55pm

The older masks were rubber.

I also concur to check the cleaning chemicals though....

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Permalink Reply by Brittanee Deeringer on March 26, 2013 at 9:11am

Thanks! I will look into what we've been using to clean them. I started as an explorer when I was 15 and have the "extra" equipment. I'm not sure how old my mask is but it does have a "latex" smell.

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