PASS devices can save lives
Barb Northey
Cologne, Minnesota
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the article on PASS devices and their use and misuse. I personally have purchased 26 of them for my local area volunteer fire departments, since their budgets are small and firefighter safety should be a priority.
My favorite firefighter went down some six years ago and was thought to be dead at first due to smoke inhalation. Thankfully, he came back to us in the hospital and is alive and a very aggressive firefighter still, but all I could think about was, “What if he had gone down in a structure and no one saw him go down?” We would have lost him for good. It was shortly after this incident that I started buying PASS devices for all my fire departments as money and time allowed.
I stress very strongly to all firefighters: Please take the extra two seconds or less to turn on the PASS devices. Those two seconds could save an eternity or a lifetime.
The PASS devices are an answer to many of my prayers since I was a dispatcher in Helena, Montana, back in the mid- and late `70s. The firefighters put their lives at risk to help innocent victims and can fall victim themselves. I believe no firefighter should have to enter a fire structure without one of these, just in case the worst happens. It is tragic how many good firefighters were lost because they ran out of air before rescue could be completed. It also takes a toll on the other firefighters, who will move heaven and earth to save a fallen comrade.
