Personal Narrative: A Career In Firefighting

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Fellow classmates, this week’s discussion hits close to home in a personal way. As of June 5,2015 my firefighting career came to an end after proudly serving since April of 1988 due to repeated exposure to toxic smoke and other chemicals from multiple fires. My lung capacity has declined significantly and breathing deeply has become a privilege instead of the norm for me. The repeated exposure to gases such as carbon monoxide,carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride,hydrogen bromide, nitrogen oxides which are all gases found in smoke as well as other toxic gases have finally caught up with me and damaged my bodies ability to breath appropriately when under extreme working condition that we face while battling fires.
Even though I wore a mask from the first fire that I ever fought to the very last, I was exposed to these toxic gases time after time. This exposure occurred while inside the structure as well during exterior operations of a structure fire and especially during salvage and overhaul operations. See when I began my career in the fire service the self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) worn consisted a mask with a long rubber hose and demand type regulator, this pack came off once the …show more content…
Narcotic type gases are gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide cause aphsyxiant symptoms to both firefighters and fire victims by reducing the ability of the carry oxygen which is then compounded by the similar effects of carbon dioxide. Smoke from a fire also contains irritates such as nitrogen oxide,halogen acids, acrolein and formaldehyde that can cause the body to experience symptoms such as watery eyes, nasal congestion or discharges, coughing due to the upper respiratory tract and lungs being irritated and confusion or disorientation from the combined effects of the narcotic and irritant gases (Gann &
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