Dangerous Jobs - The Fire Service
There are many dangerous jobs out there but let’s look at the role of a fire man. They don’t just have to deal with the fire, its the smoke that kills many people every year in house fires and then of course there the chance of explosions and fire damaged items falling.
Statistics say that around 5 – 600 fire fighters die every year. There is no doubt that it’s a dangerous job but why is this. They have full and on going training and the role will only allow the fittest to join in the first place. Even the PPE is of high quality.
It’s not just the fire that’s dangerous. When a room is on fire the smoke will overcome its victim within minutes. Your lungs do the most important job that goes beyond breathing; they are responsible for the exchange of gasses.
This takes place in the alveoli, the smallest part of the lungs right at the end. Here, oxygen reaches the tiny walls of the alveoli and passes through to the blood where oxygen is absorbed and carbon monoxide is expelled so that when we breathe out, it can leave the body.
As it’s poisonous, not being able to expel it is deadly to us. This process is called ‘The exchange of gasses’ and with a smoke filled room; the lungs are filled with smoke and unable to do this. The smoke its self will have harmful chemicals in it too that will quickly overcome the human body. However, with the equipment that fire fighters use this is rare and is more likely to kill the victims stuck in the fire than the fire fighters going in.
In many fires there are parts of the surroundings that become unstable causing the roof to fall in. Again the fire fighters will have protective helmets on but firemen have died from buildings collapsing on them due to the size of the buildings they are trying to save.
There are also other dangers for fire fighters to consider. When they enter a burning building they could be faced with exploding gas lines or electrical items. This can be very dangerous and can be the reason for people dying.
The other obstruction to safe fire fighting is the presence of the people who are trapped or trying to get back in to rescue a family member from the fire. People are probably the biggest risk to human life.
The fire fighters are trained with the best in PPE to keep them safe while saving lives but innocent victim of the flames are unpredictable and will put the fire fighters under unnecessary pressure and danger. We are often the cause of a fire be it directly or in-directly and when the professionals come to save the day, we still get in the way.
If you ever have the misfortune of needing the fire fighters, please just let them do their job.
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