DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 10:46:28 -0500
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From: List Moderator <esf**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Subject: Re: [NAOSMM] Need your opinion on fire procedures
From: "Alan Hall"
Date: October 28, 2005 8:53:16 PM EDT
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] [NAOSMM] Need your opinion on fire procedures
Mr. Black,
First off, if there was a REAL fire, then all questions go by the
board. Ring the alarm, activate whatever you got for fire response,
and get everybody the bloody Hell out of wherever it is... BUT, if
this is a diddly-squat thing, THEN... Did ALL the smoke go up the
hood? Then where's the smoke inhalation danger? (as Devil's advocate
I work on smoke inhalation -- CO/CN issues and have researched them
and cyanide antidotes for more than 20 years).
The simple questions: IS anybody in danger? What are the dangers of
leaving (say in my case a long time ago) up to 80 experiments
generating hydrogen bromide gas when the Chem Lab in the basement had
had its HVAC and all hoods shut off unbeknownst to all of us (Bubba
and Jim Bob in maintenance are alive and perhaps well, but...) and my
colleagues in the Fire Service were NOT pleased? Nor should they
have been? NO! There's a time to revert to the old "Run like Hell in
the uphill, upwind, opposite direction" of whatever it is (from
rattlesnake bites to nuclear plant releases and everything in
between). I can turn all members on to the Advanced Hazardous
Materials Life Support Course, if anyone's interested; very good and
internationally recognized, from the University of Arizona.
But I want to inject a word of caution in here. You "cry WOLF!" too
many times and sometime, soon, SOMEBODY is NOT not going to strap on
his/her parachute or emergency escape ventilator, grab those the
handles, and BAIL OUT! BAIL OUT! BAIL OUT! when it's the right time
(and there will be a right time; the only question is WHEN?) Because
they've heard it too many times before; because it wasn't true then?,
and why should it be NOW? -- and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, this is the
RIGHT TIME -- DON'T PANIC may be good advice, but there's a time to
run like Hell in the opposite direction. Don't give the word, if you
can, until it's the RIGHT word. Interesting tee shirt a good guy
from Australia had at the World Association of Disaster and Emergency
Medicine this last May in Edinburgh, Scotland: on the front:
"Specialist is chemical and biological warfare: on the back: "If you
see me running, hold your breath and try to keep up!" (I seem to
spend an increasing amount of my time trying to see that such things
NEVER happen.)
And your fireman is not wrong; I've seldom known one to be, including
me with me red card.
So it's easy to chase everybody outside, but consider the
consequences if it isn't really necessary (half the time they don't
even go; too many false alarms -- happened to me recently in a hotel
in the Toronto area; everybody sat tight in the restaurant while the
hooter went off and finally some good firefighters told us "no
problem" - I checked; I could have thrown my chair through the
nearest window and been out of there in a parachute landing fall
roll; but the rest of the clientele simply ignored it -- there's a
lesson in there somewhere; and the rest is left as an exercise for
the student). Perhaps we should save the "It's OK to Panic Now" part
for when it REALLY IS! Just a thought...seen too many of both mistakes.
Always was the "Voice of Reason"; doesn't mean I was always right or
ever will be.
Alan H. Hall, M.D.
President and Chief Medical Toxicologist
TCMTS, Inc.
Elk Mountain, WY
and
Clinical Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Biomterics
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Denver, Co
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