Smiths Detection Partners With Fire Smoke Coalition to Sponsor Firefighter Training, Smoke Toxicant Assessment

Continuing its efforts to support firefighters, Smiths Detection is again partnering with the Fire Smoke Coalition to sponsor the free Know Your Smoke workshop for firefighters on April 5 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In the United States, residential fires are the third leading cause of fatal injury and the fifth most common cause of unintentional injury and death, yet the majority of fire-related fatalities are not caused by burns, but by smoke inhalation.

This free training session will teach firefighters about the complexities of the combustion process which produces many gases and toxicants, particularly Hydrogen Cyanide and Carbon Monoxide; how to prevent smoke exposure and, most important to the communities they serve, how pre-hospital treatment of the smoke inhalation victim must include consideration for cyanide exposure or poisoning.

Firefighters will take valuable knowledge back to their departments to save their own and those in their communities. The program will introduce them to antidotal therapies and treatment protocols for cyanide poisoning related to smoke inhalation, which have been adopted by other states and departments and have proven to save lives.

Terry Gibson, Vice President, Americas, Smiths Detection, said: "Smiths Detection technologies help protect first responders in the communities they serve, and we are pleased to sponsor these life-saving trainings and offer our most effective chemical identifiers and scientists to support this vital firefighter safety research with the hope we can help turn around these statistics.”

Smiths Detection supports fire and smoke safety research. Last fall, it provided services and equipment on a joint research health study conducted with the Utah Valley University Emergency Services Department and the Fire Smoke Coalition. Smith Detection systems GUARDION, HazMatID Elite, and GasID were used in that study.

Smiths Detection designs and makes advanced solutions to detect and identify threats including explosives, chemical agents, biohazards, nuclear, radiation, narcotics, weapons and contraband. A market leader worldwide in providing layered security technologies, Smiths Detection has major plants in three U.S. states. It partners with federal and state government agencies and first responders to strengthen homeland security and safeguard the military. Major customers include the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It is part of Smiths Group, a global leader in the practical application of advanced technologies. Smiths Group employs around 23,000 people, including more than 9,000 in the U.S. where it operates around 100 sites in 40 states.