Fire district receives grant, purchases carbon monoxide detectors

The Destin Fire Control District took advantage of a yearly opportunity for state funding, and will use a matching grant to purchase three Masimo Rad-57 carbon dioxide (CO) detectors.

“These units are very important,” Medical Division Chief Phil Metz told The Log. “This equipment will become the standard in the profession in the next few years — give it five or 10 years, and departments all over the country will have them.”

The matching grant totals $8,090 and is a 75/25 grant, which means the fire district would only be responsible for $2,696.67 of the total cost. With a unanimous vote during Tuesday nights Board of Fire Commissioners meeting, the grant was accepted.

Mark Baugh, fire fighter and president of the Destin Professional Firefighters Union, Local 3158, told the board that carbon monoxide is a “silent killer” and there are a lot of deaths to firefighters associated with carbon monoxide poisoning.

“We go to these fires, and after we are done and extinguish them, the first thing we want to do is take our coats off and our masks off because the fire is out, but you have all those toxic gases coming up,” he said. “We shouldn’t be in this atmosphere without our masks off.”

Carbon monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in America, according to the Center for Disease Control. The CDC attributes carbon monoxide poisoning to nearly 500 deaths annually and sends more than 15,000 people to the hospital for emergency room visits.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas produced by burning materials containing carbon. The gas can cause brain damage and death. Early symptoms include headaches, nausea and fatigue, which are most commonly mistaken for the flu.

The CO monitors would be used to check the status of firefighters, since CO presence can give a false positive on the district’s current tests for oxygen saturation in the blood. The units would also be used on the general public to test for CO poisoning.

Metz told The Log CO monitors “absolutely” save lives, not only for firefighters, but also for the public having a medical emergency.

During and after a fire, firefighters are required to go through fire ground rehab, which is the process of providing them and other emergency personnel with immediate medical attention such as rehydration, treatment for smoke inhalation and prevention of life-threatening conditions such as heatstroke and heart attack.

The rehab aims to ensure the physical and mental well being of emergency responders doesn’t deteriorate to the point where it affects the safety of others around them.

Metz said the CO detectors should arrive in Destin at the end of the month, and training was soon to follow.

“We hope to have everyone trained and the units operational by July.”