UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Abstract: At approximately 3:45 p.m. on January 1, 2017, Employee #1, coworker #1 and cowo rker #2, all firefighters, responded to a structure fire. They donned self-cont ained breathing apparatus, SCBA, to make entry to the second floor for an initia l fire attack. Employee #1 was on the nozzle, Coworker #1 was on the hose line and had the thermal imaging camera and Coworker #2 was at the door advancing the attack line. They finished the initial attack on the second floor and thought t hat the fire was above them in the attic space and radioed for a ladder. Cowork er #1 asked Employee #1 to shut the hose line down so he could radio command and ask for the ladder. Employee #1 stated he closed the bail and turned towards C oworker #1 and took a breath and the mask sucked to his face as if there was no air to breathe. Employee #1 checked the donning /air saver switch thinking it m ay have been hit with debris and had been depressed but it was ok. Employee #1 felt he needed to take a breath so he unhooked the regulator and started breathi ng in the immediate danger to life or health atmosphere, IDLH, while checking th e regulator. He reconnected the regulator and took another breath and the mask again sealed to his face. Employee #1 started to panic a little bit, and starte d to disconnect the regulator again to take another breath. Employee #1 dropped the hose and told Coworker #1 he was out of air and needed to get out now. Whe n Employee #1 reached the outside he collapsed to the ground and started coughin g at which time fire department emergency medical services provided medical trea tment. Employee #1 was hospitalized.