Equipment failures prompt Renton to replace firefighters’ breathing units

Published 3:43 pm Tuesday, December 6, 2011

It takes just 12 seconds for all the air in a Renton firefighter’s oxygen tank to discharge in an equipment failure.

Seven times, that scenario has played out, six times in live-fire training exercises and once battling a car fire.

Now, the city’s firefighters will get new self-contained breathing apparatus, after those failures put their lives at risk, says a deputy fire chief.

The Renton City Council Monday night approved spending $402,000 for the new breathing equipment for the city’s 150 firefighters.

The vote came without comment from council members, who had received demonstrations from Deputy Fire Chief Erik Wallgren describing how the failures occurred and the threats to firefighters they pose.

The Northwest factory representative for the manufacturer, Mine Safety Appliance (MSA), based in Pennsylvania, spoke during audience comment before the vote.

The representative, Brian Beyer, said “first and foremost” the safety of Renton’s firefighters is the company’s biggest concern. “We take it extremely serious,” he said of the concerns.

“I also firmly believe that we have a very safe and reliable system,” he said, that’s been in use for decades. He asked that the city do further evaluation before a decision is made.

The breathing apparatus is a firefighter’s most important piece of safety equipment, said Wallgren, who oversees safety and support services for Renton Fire and Emergency Services Department.

Wallgren said MSA told the city that the failures occurred because of operator error. Wallgren said firefighters routinely check their equipment before gearing up.

The first failure occurred in November 2008, the year the City of Renton purchased the self-contained breathing equipment. In the intervening four years, the city worked with the manufacturer on solutions as the failures mounted.

The city most recently tested a fix suggested by MSA using recruits at the Fire Training Academy in North Bend. There were three equipment failures, Wallgren said.

“At that point, we said, ‘enough is enough’,” said Wallgren.

Wallgren described the incidents as “catastrophic failures” of the O ring between the high-pressure hose and the air cylinder.

Beyer, the MSA representative, called such failures “very rare.”

An evaluation was done of the different breathing equipment available; the city has opted to buy SCOTT Safety air packs, which are becoming the standard equipment for firefighters in South King County, Wallgren said.

The city will buy 75 complete units, plus an additional 150 air cylinders and 150 face pieces, which are specifically fitted to a firefighter, for $402,000. The total cost is about $590,000, but SCOTT and Municipal Emergency Services Inc. offered the city a trade-in for the MSA apparatus worth about $188,000.

The city has the money budgeted for the purchase, including about $200,000 that would have gone toward routine replacement of the MSA apparatus, Wallgren said.

“Thank goodness I didn’t purchase that,” he said.

The city now is preparing the specifications for the purchase and answering other questions. The order should be placed by the end of January, with delivery in February or March.

“Even if we wanted them tomorrow, we couldn’t get them,” Wallgren said of the process to buy the new equipment.