Firefighter injury prompts call for personal alarm inspections

ONEIDA, N.Y. — U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is calling on two federal agencies to begin rigorous inspections of the personal alarm systems worn by firefighters across the country after an upstate New York firefighter was critically injured when his failed. The “Personal Alert Safety System” devices are designed to sound an alarm and alert others nearby if a firefighter stops moving for 30 seconds. But that alarm malfunctioned for Oneida firefighter Mitch Dryer when a roof collapsed on him during a fire at a local bowling alley on April 22. Dryer was trapped under three feet of rubble for 17 minutes and was critically injured. He recovered, but his right arm was amputated. Oneida fire Chief Don Hudson said he learned after Dryer’s accident that the devices have been known to malfunction when wet or when temperatures climb above 300 degrees Fahrenheit. “Those are two conditions we’re in all the time,” he said. Hudson said he contacted Schumer’s office in an attempt to make sense out of his department’s tragedy. “It’s a move in the right direction for firefighter safety all across the United States,” Hudson said of Schumer’s intervention. The PASS device is a motion sensor worn by firefighters when responding to a blaze. The devices are designed to repeatedly flash a light and trigger a high-pitched noise if a firefighter stops moving, signaling other firefighters that he may be trapped or injured and in need of rescue. Nationwide, it is estimated that more than a million firefighters use the device, including tens of thousands in New York, Schumer said. Over the past decade, 15 firefighters in the U.S. have died when their PASS devices failed under routine heat and water conditions, the senator said. This year, the National Fire Protection Association issued a report documenting the flaws in the current PASS devices and issued higher standards for future devices. However, the NFPA plan did not offer any plans for testing the devices currently in the field, Schumer said. “It’s unacceptable that the safety of firefighters across New York State is jeopardized by malfunctioning equipment that they rely on as their last line of defense when battling a blaze,” Schumer said. Schumer’s plan calls for existing PASS devices to be inspected by the National Institute for Operational Safety and Health and the United States Fire Administration when local fire departments undergo routine inspection of their air packs. New alarm systems also would be inspected and required to meet updated safety standards, he said.