Convert to Lifetime Membership & Receive Paul Combs T-Shirt
The new Paul Combs t-shirt, unveiled at FDIC, and featuring the Toxic Twins, was a tremendous success. With a limited quantity of t-shirts still available, the Coalition will offer current members the opportunity to convert to a lifetime membership for only $20.00 and – receive a free t-shirt! Quantities are limited so don’t wait. This [...]
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Join the Fire Smoke Coalition today and help continue a “free training” mission to insure life-saving education for firefighters.
MEDICAL TREATMENT
Below are resources and publications specific to the medical treatment of smoke exposure. To view member-only content, please visit our Become a Member section to learn more about joining the Fire Smoke Coalition.
Cyanide & Modern Fires: Scientific and Practical Fundamentals for Fire Service Professionals
The contribution of hydrogen cyanide to smoke inhalation-associated injury and death has historically been overshadowed by a focus on carbon monoxide, another important toxicant in fire smoke. However, the role of cyanide is becoming better understood everyday as the body of evidence establishing its pervasiveness as a combustion product and its toxicity in the fire [...]
Read more ›Focus on Smoke Inhalation—The Most Common Cause of Acute Cyanide Poisoning
The contribution of smoke inhalation to cyanide-attributed morbidity and mortality arguably surpasses all other sources of acute cyanide poisoning. Research establishes that cyanide exposure is: (1) to be expected in those exposed to smoke in closed-space fires; (2) cyanide poisoning is an important cause of incapacitation and death in smoke-inhalation victims; and (3) that cyanide [...]
Read more ›Sodium Thiosulfate or Hydroxocobalamin for the Empiric Treatment of Cyanide Poisoning?
Cyanide has been used as an agent for suicide, homicide, chemical warfare, and genocide and can contribute to death of victims of smoke inhalation in enclosed space fires. In the United States, smoke inhalation causes as many as 10,000 fatalities each year. Of US annual burn fatalities, 60% to 80% are likely due to smoke [...]
Read more ›Smoke Inhalation & Hydrogen Cyanide Poisoning: The Danger Posed to Firefighters & Victims in Structure Fires
Treatment for smoke inhalation in the United States has not changed much during the past several years: We remove the victim from the source, provide high-flow 100% oxygen and assist with ventilation, if needed. Responding EMS personnel and firefighters are primarily concerned with carbon monoxide poisoning and hypoxia in smoke inhalation patients. However, hydrogen cyanide [...]
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