To everyone ... I understand that gas and electricity are vastly different. The question was more of a rhetorical one.
The real question is, why do we even have to risk it? We can put a man on the moon, yet we can't find a simple way for fire departments to shut down electricity at the pole/source. It is either risk your life doing something that you may or may not have the training to do, say "screw it" and deal with the risk, or watch someone's house burn due to the simple fact that you can not operate safely due to the electrical shock hazard.
On Monday evening, I heard R. David Paulison, Administrator of the U.S. Fire Administration, speak. He brought up several instances similar to the question I posed above. He gave the example of buying a SCUBA tank in Alaska, flying to Australia, and, with no problem being able to buy a regulator to fit the tank. Yet, you can't take a cylinder from a SCOTT pack, and put it on an MSA, or an Interspiro, or a Drager ... you get the idea. Another example ... why has the construction industry figured out how to have a common thread size for everything, yet the fire service can't.
For the record, these are all rhetorical questions that can not be answered right now. Hopefully, they will be answered soon.
Stay Safe
