We feel compelled to respond tocomments by Battalion Chief (Ret.) Chuck Smeby in Letters to the Editor(Fire Engineering, March 2009). Smeby was responding to a letter from Assistant Chief (Ret.) Gary P. Morris relating to air management. Smeby seems to advocate that firefighters operate in the hazard area until their low-air warning alarm activates, whereas Morris advocates firefighters follow the basic premise of air management that they should be out of the hazard area before the low-air warning alarm activates.
Smeby states that when firefighters react to the low-air warning alarm “this is an indication of training success” and that “if the low-air warning is set at a level that does not allow enough time to exit, that is a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard issue.” We agree with him that air management is an NFPA issue.
In 2006, the NFPA issued new training directives related to SCBA in NFPA 1404, Standard for Fire Service Respiratory Protection Training, 2006 edition. In this document, the NFPA clearly states that fire departments “shall” have an Air Management Program (AMP) in support of this requirement.
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