Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. -- The levels of hydrogen cyanide at the fire at New England Boatworks on Thursday were dangerous enough to send eight firefighters to Newport Hospital for exposure.

The deadly gas, once used in wartime, is now detected at routine structure fires, where it's emitted as the plastic and polymers in modern-day household goods and construction materials burn.

But until the last several years, cyanide was the danger that few in the fire service really understood.

The frequently odorless gas is caused by the combustion of nitrogen and carbon-containing substances, such as wool, silk, cotten and synthetics, and it's even detected when fires are smoldering or extinguished -- when firefighters are likely to remove their oxygen masks.

Cyanide suffocates the body from the inside. The chemical binds onto oxygen in the bloodstream and prevents the body's cells from receiving oxygen, shutting down the nervous system.

Early symptoms include nausea, dizziness and confusion, and rapid breathing. Severe cyanide poisoning leads to coma, muscle spasms and death.

Someone who inhales cyanide-tainted smoke will have soot around their nose and mouth, and be weak, dizzy and vomiting before losing consciousness and going into respiratory or cardiac arrest.

The dangers of cyanide gas weren't widely known in the fire service until 2006, when eight firefighters working two routine house fires in Providence were discovered to have elevated levels of cyanide in their blood. One suffered a heart attack at the scene; he was permanently disabled and never returned to work.

That placed national attention on the issue, prompting an investigation by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal agency under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and by the Providence Fire Department itself into ways to detect and prevent cyanide poisoning from fires.

Since then, fire departments throughout Rhode Island acquired detection equipment and began training their firefighters to determine the presence of carbon monoxide in the bloodstream of a firefighter or civilian -- carbon monoxide is an indicator of the presence of cyanide) -- and acting quickly if someone shows symptoms of cyanide poisioning.

Two years ago, the state used $435,000 in federal homeland security money to purchase cyanide antitode kits for ambulances and train all rescue workers on how to administer the antidote on the spot.

 Tags  fire Portsmouth R.I. fire Portsmouth RI Providence R.I. Fire Department

Comments

Paul said:

And the City and Towns complain about the work the men and women of the Fire Department's around the State do, why?

Link | April 24, 2009 2:57 PM
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