Hydrogen Cyanide is Nasty Stuff
Are there firefighters on your department that don't wear SCBAs when they should? Have them read this article (from The Providence Journal).
PROVIDENCE -- "Firemen need to understand that you can never, ever, ever breathe smoke. Smoke today is not your daddy's smoke. It's more toxic. It will kill you."Bob Halton, editor-in-chief, Fire Engineering Magazine.
...
Baker had worked at two house fires that night, going inside at one house and then manning the pump at the second fire. He collapsed beside a fire engine and was rushed to the hospital by other firefighters who fought to restart his heart.
Mrs. Baker watched as the emergency room staff worked on her husband. His skin was ashen and he lay motionless, with tubes and IV lines snaking into his body.
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But the danger that had sent her 50-year-old husband into cardiac arrest on March 24 was caused by something she'd never considered. Baker and several other Providence firefighters had high levels of deadly cyanide in their bloodstream.
Hydrogen cyanide is released in smoke when plastics and polymers burn. These fumes can remain on scene for quite awhile.
There are some antidotes available, but the nervous system can sustain long-term damage.
There is a bunch more info in this article and it's a good read.
