Smoke

[txfour]

Hello,

I am a relatively new VFD guy and am trying to battle smoke problems. The stuff just kills my eyes, they will water and burn like no other. I have ESS goggles, and when I wear them it is fine. Breathing is quite difficult as well.

While we don't have "wildland" fires per say, 95% of our calls are grass/brush fires. Typically these are heavy brush fires meaning most work is done using roads as perimeters or following dozers.

My question is this, I look around at these fires and I don't see other people having the problems I do. Is it that they are and it's just part of it? Or am I just more sensitive to it?

Like I said, the goggles help a bunch, what is out there and affordable for breathing?

Thanks

[RxFire]

You may be more sensitive. If possible, stay out as much as possible, or if you can't, but are able to grab a few minutes of clear air, do that.

There is nothing short of an scba that will keep the smoke out... the whiffs masks and such just make it harder to breathe (So I've been told. While some folks swear by them, if they were that good, they would be used more wildland firefighters).

[JayDudley]

If 95% of your fire are grass/brush.....THAT IS wildland...just smaller. I also just think your more sensitive then most. Hang in there and you'll adjust.

[Bowbreaker]

Smoke making your eyes burn or water is normal, I also wear my goggles alot, and I wear a cotton bandana covering my mouth and nose when the smoke gets too bad. It helps a lot more than you would think. It is not as good as SCBA but nothing is. Hope this helps.

Brad

[BWTFD2]

I've been fighting Wildland Fires for 16 years and my eyes still burn. I found out for whatever reason that when I where my contacts they don't burn as much. So your are not the only one. Wear your goggles as much as you can since it helps you, this will also help reduce the possibilities of other eye injuries. It will get better over time as your eyes adjust so hang in there.

[bharer75]

here you go... it is an awesome system...

http://shop.linegear.com/product_info.php?cPath=239_531&products_id=1993

[FortechFEO]

You'll never get used to it. Welcome to the first couple of signs for smoke inhalation. Runny nose, watery eyes, burning eyes, coughing, and if you start puking you have made it there! The trick is mitigating the smoke so it is not an issue or rotating in and out of the smoke with crew members.

[Bushwhacker]

One more thing is don't buy into the Hot-shield crazy they are junk for cutting smoke and will overheat ya in a hurry. Welcome to the club!

[onlocation]

we use goggles and those white dust mask you can buy at any hardware store, but for more severe conditions we use a better respirator with a little better filter, it helps a lot.
we mostly try to stay out of the smoke if possible, but most of the time it is impossible
also we have aslo put breathing oxygen bottles on a couple of our brush trucks, that away when a guy gets a little to much smoke he can breathe some good clean air