F
ENGINEERING
A SAFER
Solution
Mitigation systems protect public’s health by routing
away intrusive vapors
By Jennifer Schmidt
irefighting is undoubtedly a dangerous
profession.
From physical threats like burns,
smoke inhalation, and explosions to the
mental health risks of repeated exposure to
traumatic events, Battalion Chief Joe Kelly and
his crew at Eau Claire Fire Station No. 10 face
any number of job-related hazards in a typical
day. Exposure to potentially hazardous gases
doesn’t need to be one of them.
Although Kelly and his fellow firefighters
take careful measures to protect themselves
against the various elements they’re up
against, they’ll soon be breathing even easier
once a vapor mitigation system is installed at
the City’s newest fire station at 820 Malden
Avenue. The under-construction station
is replacing an outdated firehouse built in
1949 and will feature a designated area for
firefighters to remove their equipment after a
fire and take a decontaminating steam shower.
Toxic, cancer-causing residue is often found
on firefighters’ skin and gear, Kelly says, and
studies repeatedly list cancer as a leading
cause of firefighter deaths.
“It’s not that we’re breathing the toxins
in, because we always wear our SCBAs (self-
contained breathing apparatus), but it’s being
absorbed through the skin. When you’re
hot in a fire, your pores open up, and you’re
absorbing toxins constantly,” Kelly explained.
“If we’re going to protect ourselves from
fires and we’re putting in decon tamination
showers, it only makes sense that we also try
to mitigate any potential problems with poor
air quality because of being on top of a former
dump.”
Aerial photographs suggest that the fire
station construction site was a waste disposal
area in the 1940s, said Lori Rosemore, a
hydrogeologist at Ayres Associates who’s
managing the environmental portions of
the project.
“Based on the historic topographic maps,
there was a ravine at this location,” Rosemore
described. “As was the practice of the time
at most fill sites, they filled it with trash and
probably burned it – and then came back in,
put more waste on top of it, and then covered
it with sand. That was pretty typical back in
the day.”
AyresAssociates.com
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