Carbon monoxide detectors to protect patients and firefighters in southern Ontario
Carbon monoxide is often called the silent killer.
This colorless, odorless gas cannot be easily detected, except with the right alarms and equipment. Hundreds of Canadians are hospitalized each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, often from faulty stoves and heating appliances. For firefighters, it’s a danger that calls for extra vigilance each time they respond to a carbon monoxide alarm call.
Pickering Fire Services, in southern Ontario, is battling back against the silent killer. The department is planning to purchase advanced monitoring technology to help assess and treat patients or firefighters who might have been exposed to the deadly gas.
“We’re looking at purchasing portable carbon monoxide monitors to enhance the safety and service we provide to citizens as well as keep our firefighters safe,” says Jason Yoshida, Deputy Fire Chief at Pickering Fire Services, which operates out of four stations to provide fire response and other safety services to this community of 94,000 just east of Toronto.
In 2015, the fire department responded to more than 4,000 emergency calls, including nearly 160 for carbon monoxide alarms.
“This is a brand new technology that’s going to let us know in seconds if there are any signs of CO poisoning, so we can begin first aid and treatment right away,” Yoshida says.
Slightly larger than a TV remote, the monitors (also known as CO-oximeters) use a finger clip to measure multiple wavelengths and rapidly detect elements in the bloodstream, including evidence of carbon monoxide. Yoshida says adding the handheld device to the department’s first-aid kits will speed up patient diagnosis and care at the scene.
Once it completes an equipment bid process later this year, the fire department intends to acquire several of the devices, which cost about $3,000 each. A $10,000 donation from Enbridge’s Safe Community grant program is helping cover the cost.
“The Enbridge grant means we won’t have to take away funds from other programs, training and equipment we need for our fire services,” says Yoshida.
Enbridge’s Safe Community program was established to support emergency responders in the communities near our pipelines and facilities. Back in 2009, Safe Community awarded Pickering Fire Services a $10,000 grant in support of its public safety education program.
“Safe Community is all about providing equipment, training or other purchases to help protect first responders and residents. This latest donation is a perfect fit,” says Brent Bullough, an Ontario-based public affairs advisor with Enbridge, who officially presented the donation check to the department in mid-February.
Remarks Ken Hall, a senior public affairs advisor with Enbridge who helps manage the Safe Community program in Ontario: “Firefighters, like those who work at Pickering Fire Services, put their lives on the line every day for us, and so enhancing the security of residents and first responders is very important.”
