CUMBERLAND — It wasn’t an emergency response but the Cumberland Fire Department’s specially trained Confined Space Team was put to the test Wednesday at a commercial construction site.
A commercial project at Industrial Boulevard near Third Street brought the team and a Cumberland Fire Department ambulance to the scene at about 11:15 a.m. Units remained for more than two hours.
“This is the Confined Space Team’s first response in a while. Other than yearly training, this is an actual incident response although there was no emergency,” said Fire Chief Donnie Dunn. “If there would have been a problem, we were prepared to handle the situation.”
Led by Lt. Chris Ratliff and with Capt. Tim Growden serving as incident commander, 12 city firefighters responded for the standby mission that first involved setting air lines and rope and tag lines for entry crews, using air monitoring devices and establishing radio communication equipment.
Twelve extra firefighters were called out for the response with the contractor picking up the tab for the overtime expenditures.
The company also had to have two of its employees “fit-tested” for self-breathing apparatus mouthpieces, equipment necessary for them to safely enter the 200-foot long, 40-inch diameter pipeline that was reduced at some point to 24 inches in diameter. All city firefighters are fit-tested with the self-breathing apparatuses annually.
The company also provided a vacuum truck that pulled out poor-quality air from the pipeline while pumping fresh air into the metal pipe. Air quality was monitored and logged throughout the response, Dunn said.
The fire department also provided face pieces and emergency air packs to the contractor for use in the event of a malfunction of the department’s air supply cart.
“Two team members are equipped and ready to enter in, another person monitors communications, another monitors air quality and support groups are there getting lines ready in case we have to go in.
“This is a very hazardous environment but it went very well for us. It also provided us with good experience outside of an emergency setting,” said the chief.
All members of the Cumberland Fire Department are trained annually for duty as members of the Confined Space Team.
Contact Jeffrey Alderton at jlalderton@times-news.com.
