PASS activation.....

Before anyone gets too far into reading this, it's just a quick rant and i don't want anyone to think I have something new to share.

I'm noticing, in quite a few videos, that there are PASS alarms going off in the background. The most recent vid had the alarm going off for nearly the whole length of the clip. It disturbs me to think that people are being "trained" to ignore the alarm. In my opinion, that alarm should not be going off unless there is a mayday or firefighter down. We train that if we hear that alarm, we are to hunt it down, if it's not obvious, and find out what's going on.

To me, those that are ignoring this alarm, for any reason, are learning something bad. Just like train whistles near your home where you grew up. You just eventually didn't hear or norice the sound anymore unless it was pointed out to you. Sure, there is quite a difference here, but essentially, that's what is happening.

Why are the alarms going off and not being shut off. Did someone drop a pack and not turn it off? They should know better. How many people are hearing it and nobody bothers to shut it off?

It irritates me to no end to hear those alarms going off for no reason. If someone wants to test it, that's fine, just turn it right off again. If you don't notice your pre-warning alarm going off, then you need more experience with your pack. This goes with not knowing how to shut the alarm off. Same if you leave a pack unattended and don't shut it down. And those that walk by and do nothing, well, I don't know what to say to them. Well, I do, but I'm trying to keep this nice.

Anyway, the PASS alarm is just that, a personal alert safety system. It's not to make it feel like summer with the crickets and frogs in the background.

If you have made it this far, thanks for listening/reading. Does anyone use the pass alarms on scene for some reason I'm not familiar with? If you do, it's wrong in my opinion.

There's not much of a question here, if you feel like posting your thoughts, the table is yours..have at 'er.

thanks for your time.

KSHF

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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on August 1, 2010 at 3:29pm

This is the video I was referring to when I posted this. And unfortunately, there are more like it.

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Permalink Reply by Jones K. on August 2, 2010 at 2:03pm

We have to do push-ups if our PASS alarm goes off and we aren't in trouble. We train that if that PASS goes off then one of our firefighters is in trouble.

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Permalink Reply by Roy Walker on August 3, 2010 at 6:30pm

When you watch this video you get the feeling that they think the alarm means the pack is on ,nothing more! This video is an embarrassment and hopefully training in this department is taking place and eliminating this attitude. All who view this tape should see the problems created by ignoring alarms and start to insure all around you understand the importance of these alarms. Precious lives are at stake.

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on August 3, 2010 at 7:42pm

Dem ain't PASS devices, dems is fire crickets. Don'ts ya know the difference?

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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on August 3, 2010 at 8:24pm

lol jack.
So is it bad luck to squarsh dem crickets? They sure is a noyin.

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Permalink Reply by Rich Lockhart on August 3, 2010 at 9:57pm

Plenty of our firegrounds sound like that also. Since we started using PASS alarms 15 years ago we've had this same problem. I think the the bigger problem is not becoming "deaf" to the alarm and staying vigilant. I know as a fireground commander I've wasted valuable manpower by sending them looking for an activated pass alarm that is nothing more than an airpack someone didn't tun off.

On the other hand, I've found myself in buildings, holding the flashlight like a good officer, and the thing goes off. They really become a pain in the ass! What's the answer? Train your people to react to a pass activation like the real deal and teach them how important they are. As with everything else in the fire service, complacency kills!

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Permalink Reply by GARY HANSON on August 21, 2010 at 1:34am

Last Friday afternoon, temp hovering near 100 , a really hot day, the tone went off for a structure fire in my response area. At the scene the structure had heavy smoke from all sides. We were only able to bunker four firefighters so they were really feeling the heat. I sent two up on the roof to ventilate and two on B side with a handline to attack through a broken window.

Long story short one of the guys on the roof had indications of heat exhaustion. We pulled that team down and started rehab. Both of their scbas were shut down as they cooled off. Shortly I heard a pass alert going off. No time was wasted to start looking for the alarm's source. What we found was another firefighter lying in the shade of a low hanging tree close to where the handline attack had been taking place. He was almost comatose, We stripped his bunkers off and got a first responder on the scene to put some O2 on him cooled him down with cold towels and started getting him re-hydrated.

What had happened, his buddy had gone to one of the coolers in the rehab area to get water and was intending to take some to his buddy. Because of sweat soaked bunkers, he a difficult time getting them off. That used up several minutes so the other ff didn't get rehabed quick enough. If it hadn't been for the "pass" alert and our immediate search, there could have been more serious consequences.