03/16/2010 – Air Pack Delivery

Fire-Rescue took delivery of 300 new Scott NXG7 Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and over 650, 4500 psi composite cylinders over the last week. The 1.9 million dollar investment marks a great safety initiative by the County to provide firefighters with improved SCBA, accountability and standardization. Some air packs currently in use by the department were purchased as far back as 1985 and presently do not meet today’s standards. All of the new packs are identical, featuring:

·         integrated PASS devices

·         lightweight composite cylinders, to reduce fatigue

·         Pack Tracker, to allow firefighters to located a downed or injured crew member

·         Buddy breathing connections in the event a firefighter runs out of air, they can connect to another crewmember’s pack to obtain air

·         Quick connect cylinders which allow for a cylinder change in about 7 seconds with no threads

·         And each packs has the Scott SEMS System with transmitters which allow the IC to monitor all personnel on the scene and communicate using the Scott software. The SEMS also provides the ability for the IC to monitor the air level of every firefighter operating at the incident.

Approximately 20 Colleton County personnel were trained on the new devices and the management software on March 14 and 15. The class was conducted by Jon Anderson from Scott. The trainers will be conducting training classes throughout the county over the next few months. Once everyone is trained, Logistics will disburse the new SCBAs to the apparatus. We anticipate this will take several months.

The Air Packs were purchased from Anderson Fire and Safety in Anderson SC.