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Mask Up
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
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I usually just hook mine to the regulator and let it hang untill I need it. If it's a car or dumpster then it goes on as soon as I get the hose laid out and get ready to make the attack. I agree not to have it on while on the apparatus or being on air while flanking the hose out. That's just a major waste.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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You need to don your mask immediately prior to
a) ...entering an IDLH environment. This doesn't necessarily mean "before entering the building". If you're going to a fire on the 10th or 12th floor of a high rise, you might not need to mask up until you get to a floor or two below the fire, as long as you're not in smoke.
b) ...putting yourself into a position where you can't mask up quickly and safety on the way to an IDLH environment. For example, if you're going to climb a ladder and the mask will be needed either on the ladder, on the roof, or at the entry point atop the ladder, then don the mask before climbing.
c) zipping into Level A or encapsulating Level B hazmat suits. If you can't access the mask through the suit, it obviously has to go on first.
d) putting yourself into an environment that may suddenly become IDLH. For example, if you're working a car fire, dumpster fire, or a hazmat leak the mask isn't just needed in the immediate area of the fire/leak, it's needed if you're in an area that may be exposed to smoke or hazmat if the wind changes suddenly.
If you're wearing the mask, you should be breathing the air. In addition to the safety problems with restricted vision from fogging and the limited field of vision, if you're wearing just the mask, you're rebreathing some of your own exhaled carbon dioxide. This occurs even if you have the big hole in the mask where the 2nd stage regulator hooks up.
Breathing carbon dioxide can quickly affect firefighters in negative ways. It can impair your mental processes, reduce fine motor function and dexterity, and create fatigue prior to entering the IDLH environment.
Ben
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Permalink Reply by Chris on
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We are masked when we get off the truck and our air turned on but we are not breathing air until we get ready to enter the house.
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Permalink Reply by William McKinnon on
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why are u masked up when u are getting of the truck?
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Permalink Reply by Robert Venable on
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I hook my regulator to my mask and turn on my tank while in route in the truck.I use a quick clip to hook to the upper straps on my mask and then to the clip on the right hand side of my jacket.Stays out of the way and is readily accessible.Mask faces outward helping to eliminate any debris from getting in.As for putting it on,its the last thing I do before going into an IDLH atmosphere in order to conserve,conserve,conserve my most valuable tool,air.Should never have it on in the truck because you can't do a size up or get the whole picture if you have it on,especially when it fogs up.Put just your mask on and do a periphial vision test at your station.Then do it without the mask and look at the difference.And this is without the hood or any other obstructions making your visibility less.
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan on
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Like the majority of others have already stated, When I come off the truck I have my bottle opened and my mask hooked up to the regulator clipped to my jacket so its not dangling by my knees. I wait to mask-up until I'm ready to make entrance, fight fire, or am otherwise instructed to do so. There's no point in obstructing my view or wasting air before it's needed. Of course if I'm driving then my mask, like my gloves, are clipped to my pants and I'm working the pump unless instructed to do something else.
TCSS
-Logue
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Caleb, if you have any multi-story structures, you might want to re-think a "one size fits all" SOG like that.
There's no point in wasting your air climbing stairs below the level of any smoke and fire.
Ben
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Permalink Reply by Bill Brierton on
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As soon as we get on the scene and it is a working fire including car fires which I hate.
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Permalink Reply by Dave on
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So what your saying is, at a reported fire in a warehouse you have to go on air once you enter the warehouse? what if it's a light balast in the waaaaaayyyyyy back of the buildng? You must be under air....remember..."no questions asked"
Plain silliness!!
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Brough on
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Seems a little wasteful. Unless there is THAT much smoke.
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