[Scan-DC] Apparent working fire in PG

[yorkfd at juno.com]

Breathing air for firefighting, SCUBA, etc. needs to be purified for
several reasons. 

Particulate matter needs to be removed from the air, but more importantly
the mositure needs to be removed from the air. Moisture in the air could
cause the inside of the air cylinders to corrode/rust, creating nasty air
and weakening the cylinder walls. Some cylinders now reach 6,000 psi, so
the structural integrity of the cylider wall is quite important.

Besides the impurities found in regular air, air from a home or gas
station compressor usually contains oil from the pistons used to compress
the air. Breathing oil is quite a nasty experience.

Greg Halpin
York PA

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:55:23 -0400 Doug Kitchener <oldsdoug at hotmail.com>
writes:
> 
> If I recall, you can't just use air from a regular old gas-station 
> air compressor because it has to be "breathable-quality", for lack 
> of a better term... (how about "purified", now that I think of it?). 
>  I have a hazy memory of a story about someone being killed because 
> the air drawn in from a compressor was contaminated with carbon 
> monoxide because the compressor's intake was near the exhaust of a 
> running vehicle, or maybe the compressor was powered by a gas engine 
> or something...
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