s.c.b.a.'s

[Al Capone]

A few questions on breathing apparatus. What brand does fdny use? I assume their is one on the unit for every member. Is there extra bottles on each unit? How do they get their bottles refilled? Is their a supply vehicle that goes to all workers or do they refill them when they get back to their firehouse? Thanks.

 

[tl-ff]

A few questions on breathing apparatus. What brand does fdny use? I assume their is one on the unit for every member. Is there extra bottles on each unit? How do they get their bottles refilled? Is their a supply vehicle that goes to all workers or do they refill them when they get back to their firehouse? Thanks.

We use Scott 4.5's with all the crappy bells and whistles. There is one mask for each member on the rigs and each company has enough spare cylinders to change in case they have to go back in. Certain firehouses are designated as cylinder depot's, They have about 100 cylinders for exchange, when a local company needs new cylinders they go there and do the exchange. Mask Services Unit go around to all the depots and changes out the depleted cylinders for full ones. The cylinders are filled at the Mask Service Unit at the rock. When a multiple alarm is going MSU does send a rig with full bottles in case they are needed.

 

[Al Capone]

Thank you.

 

[Al Capone]

Does each member have his own personal mask that he puts on the rig when he gets on duty, or he just use a standard one already on the rig?

 

[HCO]

Each member, per OSHA, has his/her own mask.

 

[vbcapt]

MSU will generally respond on the 3rd alarm & certain special incidents

 

[Al Capone]

thanks guys

 

[Bigandy]

Does anyone know when the first MSU was put into service?

 

[mac8146]

Just a point of information here, each member has his/her own facepiece. The Mask is the whole system, each riding position has a mask and each company carries 1 spare cylinder for each mask. Each Battalion has a depot that has spare cylinders that companies can go to and exchange cylinders that are depleted. MSU comes and removes depleted cylinders and fills the depot with full cylinders. As stated MSU also responds on 3rd alarms and can be special called as needed, High rise units also have extra cylinders on that rig.

 

[Al Capone]

Thanks mac

 

[vbcapt]

AIR COMPRESSOR 1 MANHATTAN
ORG. 243 Lafayette St. At R-1 (Mar. 7, 1947)
DISB. (Sep. 28, 1947)

AIR COMPRESSOR 2 BROOKLYN
ORG. 227 Front St. At E-208 (Mar. 7, 1947)
DISB. (Sep. 28, 1947)

Don't believe these were anything similar to MSU's. MSU's were probably put into service sometime after the air compressor units were disbanded and the SCBA's came into service. 1960's maybe ? Anyone know for sure ?

 

[guitarman314]

Sorry, but I believe those Air Compressors were for powering air hammers and chisels used for breaching walls and cutting holes in concrete piers.

 

[vbcapt]

Ok. I figured they were for something other than breathing air but wasn't sure. I sent an e-mail to the webmaster of nyfd.com inquiring about the MSU's.

 

[nfd2004]

Just a guess at this, but I noticed the MSUs that deliever to the Air Depot Firehouses starting to show up around the early 90s (???). I think they bought about four of these units. These were in addition to the larger MSU that went to the large jobs of third alarms or more. The use of air packs didn't really come into play until really the 1980s.

 

[vbcapt]

I know they were using MSU's in 83/84. There are photos of them in Wanstall's book, FDNY New York's Bravest, just haven't clue when they started

 

[Bigandy]

My guess would be early 80's also, seeing that SCBA use was only really coming around in the late 70's.

 

[fdny1984]

Looked it up in "Wheels of the Bravest". Mask Service Unit was oranized in 1957 with a 1957 International "Metro" van. looks like it's about the size of a suburban.

 

[vbcapt]

Thanks fdny1984 !!

 

[Bigandy]

Well I was way off. Thanks fdny1984!

 

[mercurygrandmarquis1]

what firehouses are air depots?