The biggest barrier to firefighters trying to extinguish a blaze, or attempt a rescue within a building, is smoke. The need to provide crews with the ability to breath, manoeuvre within a building freely and interact with colleagues has shaped the development of breathing apparatus. From the first cumbersome smoke helmets, dependant on an umbilical cord, to self-contained Proto oxygen sets, to the revolutionary introduction of compressed air sets in the 1960s, breathing apparatus has saved countless lives.
Today’s firefighters constantly face new and sometimes unexpected challenges. This whitepaper, based on views from an industry roundtable panel discussion led by safety equipment innovator MSA Safety, examines the latest threats facing firefighters, and considers how modern-day Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) can evolve to meet them.
In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre’s Twin Towers, no one will forget the footage of the New York City Fire Department crews running towards the blaze in Manhattan. Wearing full fire protection equipment, they entered stairwells and began to ascend. Their standard issue PPE and breathing apparatus weighed in at ~34 kg, excluding any other tools carried. Despite the fact that both buildings were 110 floors high, the equipment enabled one crew to reach the 78th storey, before, catastrophically, the South Tower collapsed.
In the UK’s 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze, where insulating cladding fuelled the rapid spread of fire with highly toxic smoke and fumes, a firefighter talking to the Independent newspaper1 has explained how, wearing breathing apparatus, crews attempted to create a bridgehead – a safe space for firefighters to gather inside the building – and to connect a hose to a dry riser outlet. Despite the tragic loss of 72 lives, firefighters were able to rescue 65 residents.
Today’s serving firefighters span people of all genders, shapes and sizes. Historically, having a smaller frame or face has left some apparatus users, including women, finding it difficult to achieve a good fit when wearing standard breathing equipment and PPE. Weight distribution and wearability have also been raised as concerns. Fortunately, the fire protection market has recognised the issue and is changing.
The latest facepiece from MSA, for example, has been produced in three sizes and also offers three sizes of nose cup to ensure the perfect fit. Explains MSA’s Jason Traynor: “When we look at weight and comfort, our SCBA designs over the past five years have evolved to move weight lower, and closer to the hips.
So, to ensure the ideal distribution, we’ve made sure the hip belt is fully height-adjustable for the user to match their build and frame. Once again, the move to a flexible, modular model for equipment is improving performance and safety whilst building user confidence”.
The desire to configure breathing equipment more flexibly is also being driven by the need to consider specific use cases. For example, responding to incidents in plant, nuclear or aerospace environments will often see firefighters forced to work in very confined spaces. Here, the ability to rapidly change the size, profile and configuration of compressed air cylinders – such as via a universal back plate design – affords more effective and manoeuvrable equipment for any team on the ground.
Sadly, the breathing apparatus performance users want and what public-service procurement perceives it can afford or will approve can be very different. Key influencers in the buying process, whilst knowledgeable, are often not front-line users of breathing apparatus fighting fires.
