A federal agency has put the blame on DeKalb County for air pack malfunctions that have plagued firefighters since 2009.
The report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health concludes that lack of proper maintenance, not a design flaw, is the reason air repeatedly cut off on the devices that serve as firefighters' lifelines in blazes.
NIOSH released the report Friday after testing two problem regulators and facemasks at the county's request. Both pieces were dirty and needed to be cleaned to pass national standards tests.
Users "must pay close attention to the instructions for proper care and maintenance issued by the (device) manufacturer," the report states.
DeKalb Fire Chief Edward O'Brien would not address if the high volume of calls -- firefighters responded to 371 structure fires last year -- affected maintenance of the components.
He instead said trained technicians keep all gear in a safe and ready state, adding that the pieces were dirty because they had been packed for testing immediately after failing in live fires.
He also noted that the report addresses only components of two air packs, while, since 2009, the county has documented 29 "near misses," or incidents in which firefighters were put in immediate danger, with the gear.
The most recent problem occurred last week, when a firefighter had to jump from a second-story window when his air supply cut off. The county has sent that entire air pack, not just the components, to the NIOSH lab for testing.
"The complete (units) were not reviewed in this investigation, and the report only addresses two of the incidents our employees have encountered," O'Brien said in a written statement. "We look forward to the complete NIOSH testing results of these units and others that have been submitted for testing."
Still, the report findings validate Draeger Safety, the Pittsburgh manufacturer of the air packs. The company has repeatedly said the packs work as promised.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation revealed failures of the breathing devices also occurring in Phoenix and Anchorage, Alaska.
But company officials said all of the problems were brought on by poor maintenance, such as not lubing the valve or properly cleaning gear after every fire.
"As we said from the beginning of this process last February, we carefully looked into every reported incident of alleged product malfunction and could find no defects with our equipment design," Tim Martin, Draeger's vice president of sales and service, said in a statement.
"Now NIOSH has confirmed that our internal analysis was indeed correct," Martin added.
Draeger has pledged to reach out to 1,500 departments using its air packs to reiterate the need for proper maintenance.
DeKalb County expects to spend $2.4 million of taxpayer dollars to buy new packs later this year. That bid process is underway and new devices are expected to be in use by fall.
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