The following are comments we’ve received from customers who have been using our monitors for several years:

“We were one of the first departments in this area to put a CO monitor with every medical first response team.  That was over five years ago and I can’t imagine operating without that safety today.

We like the simplicity, automation and low cost of the Airspace monitors.”

From an Assistant Chief.

“We’re a small department and the Airspace monitors have been workhorses for us.  We use them to respond to CO alarm calls and we take a monitor on EMS calls.  We’ve also used it for a few calls from homeowners who smelled gas.  We are in a rural area and it’s nice to have the methane detection capability for barns.  Sometimes our dispatch doesn’t pick up the manure pit – saves us the critical time it would take to go get a four gas monitor.  The Airspace monitor is so easy to use and trouble free it just goes along all the time.”

From a Chief who has used our monitors for over 5 years.  Several neighboring departments have bought monitors based on his recommendation. 

“The Airspace unit is a good one at a low price.  We’ve been carrying one of these on each engine for at least the last 7 years, with battery changes the only maintenance required.

I’ve been using one on job site safety inspections for the last 5 years, especially in winter, and especially in temporary enclosures with internal combustions engines or heaters.

They read alarms within a ppm or two, when compared to one of the NIOSH certified 4 gas monitors required for confined space entry and other OSHA regulated activities.”

From a Training officer 

“Our department purchased our first unit from Airspace in 2002.  It was one of the first out there since we had to wait for UL approval before it could be shipped.  We like the unit because of the price, size and ease of use.  Prior to this purchase we were using another vendors device and we had spent hundreds of dollars replacing the sensors and getting it recalibrated.  It seemed like every time we needed the device it would not work.

The Airspace unit has worked every time we have needed to use it.  The only maintenance required has been to change the batteries, which last a long time.  We recently purchased 2 more so we could equip both engines and our equipment truck with the units. “

From a Chief

THESE TWO EXAMPLES TELL THE STORY: 

A Milwaukee Fire Department Medical unit responded to a person experiencing dizziness at a business with 30 employees.  While caring for the patient, the Carbon Monoxide Monitor the team carries on every call alarmed.  The patient, employees, and paramedics all evacuated the building.  The patient was taken to a hospital and there were no other reports of illness or injury.  A properly trained HAZMAT team was called to deal with the CO problem in the building. 

Contrast that outcome with a recent call to Santa Clara County Dispatch.  A man needed medical attention.  The location was a locker room in the pool building of an apartment complex.  Three paramedics responded – they were not carrying CO monitors.  As they were treating the patient, one of the paramedics began to feel “woozy”.  A HAZMAT team was called in.  They discovered very high levels of CO.  The end result was 8 people being hospitalized, including the three paramedics.  The outcome of the patient was unknown at the time the report was published.   

CO poisoning is very difficult to identify.  Unless a CO monitor is carried on every call there is a very significant probability First Response Teams will eventually experience carbon monoxide poisoning.  Training to recognize symptoms is not keeping people safe. 

Airspace products can make that decision even easier.  Equipping with Airspace Monitors means:

1.   Less complexity.  Just a few minutes of training and anyone can use the equipment.

2.   Less liability.  Automatic function, no calibration required, and five year sensor replacement intervals to dramatically lower the liability to the department.

3.   Sharply less expense.  Those same issues – less training, no calibration, no sensor replacement for five years - make Airspace equipment much less expensive to own.

The bottom line is you can own an Airspace Monitor that will have a total cost of less than $100.00 per year per team it protects.  That number includes purchase and maintenance.  How can you afford not to equip?

EQUIPPING FIRST RESPONDERS WITH CO DETECTORS:

The following is from the fall issue of Wisconsin Fire Chief Magazine.  The article details the Milwaukee Fire Department's decision and costs for equipping every engine and truck company with a portable CO detector. 

This is a summary of the article.  If you would like a copy of the entire article, please ask.   

The background information stated that the department has seen a steady increase in calls that result in CO runs.  It indicated that has been a national trend.   In 2005 US fire departments responded to 61,000 non-fire CO incidents, an 18% increase from the prior year, according to statistics available from NFPA.  Therefore, dealing with CO runs effectively and efficiently has become more important. 

The article described an event that hospitalized six people, four of which were Milwaukee Fire Fighters in June 2007 that became the catalyst to act.  It was explained that often the department responds to calls in which people are in and out of consciousness or experiencing abnormal behavior they don’t know or can’t explain the cause.  Until now the department has depended on the training of all Milwaukee Firefighting personnel to recognize CO symptoms on the initial call or as soon as possible after they arrive.  The protocol was to call a battalion chief if they suspected CO.  The chief would then test, etc.  In this instance, the firefighters and patients were in the building 20 minutes before CO was confirmed, resulting in their hospitalization for CO poisoning.  

A group was formed to find a better way.  Their study determined equipping each first response team with CO detection capability will reduce the time needed to identify Carbon Monoxide to seconds.  The monitors now accompany firefighters and paramedics on all runs, giving them the ability to detect Carbon Monoxide presence within seconds of their arrival.  That has dramatically lowered the time the firefighting personnel and patients are exposed to CO.  The City of Milwaukee was quoted, “We are now confident we won’t experience another incident such as the one that sent four of our peers to the hospital approximately a year ago. 

They went on to describe their program in detail.  Following is a brief overview.   

THE BENEFIT: 

Protecting the firefighting personnel and patients is the most significant benefit, obviously, but the article also lists the efficiency of being able to send a CO monitor equipped firefighter on every CO run.  The department has made 311 CO runs from January through May 2008.  “This program (having a CO detector on every call) enables the department to have a more efficient way to proactively determine CO levels, respond to CO runs, and protect the City of Milwaukee from the dangers of CO exposure.”

 THE COST: 

Unfortunately, we at Airspace did not know about this program until we read about it in the local paper – and the Milwaukee Fire Department didn’t know about the solid state Airspace products, consequently they bought electro chemical sensors.  If you are considering this kind of program, you should look at our monitors.  Our solid state AGS technology is simple to operate, requires less maintenance, and will be dramatically less expensive to own.    Here are their numbers, according to the article:

                 $250.00 each for 37 calibrations stations

                 $125.00 per year for gas to calibrate

                 $250.00 per monitor with a three year useful life

 That brings the initial cost to as much as $625.00 for each monitor (less if some monitors share a calibration station).  Their cost to own those monitors will be app. $208.00 per year each ($125.00 in calibration gas and $83.00 depreciation).  The total cost to own each unit for five years will be as much as $1665.00, somewhat less if calibration stations are shared.  Much more than the cost of owning Airspace equipment! 

FUNDING: 

The departments’ direct investment was $8,000 and $50,000 was raised through corporate donations, with  Wisconsin Energy Foundation being the largest contributor at $42,000.  NOTE:  Those of you who are in the WE Energies market might want to go to their web site to find information about the application process for these grants.  They describe their service area on their web site, and offer applications for grants website: www.wisconsinenergy.com, then look under Foundation.  It would seem likely that other departments in their service area might also be considered for grants for CO detectors to protect firefighters and paramedics. 

POSTSCRIPT: 

The CO monitors the Milwaukee Firefighters are now carrying got their first “hit” in late July of this year (after this article was written).  A first response team was called to a GE plant to help one person of 30 in the building.  Their alarm went off as they entered the building and they were able to evacuate the patient, the rest of the workers, and themselves immediately.  Later testing showed very high levels of CO in the building.  So high, in fact, it is very likely to have caused injuries, or even death, if the old protocol had been used.  The portable monitors allowed the problem to be identified in seconds with no further injury and a much faster diagnosis for the patient.

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Last Update: 12/16/09