PASS device fails

I didnt know where else to put this. I just found out on MSNBC that the PASS device (Personal Alert Safety System, this device sounds an alarm if a firefighter is still for 30 seconds or can be activated manualy, you heard 343 going off on TV during 9/11) may fail if it gets wet or too hot!!!!

No one told my officers?!? No one told us to not rely on it! I am so mad, these manufacturers have known for YEARS that they fail if gotten wet of get hot?!?

WTF do they think we do! Sorry for all the exclamation points but It NEVER even crossed my mind it may not go off due to water, we get soaking wet during a struture fire. Soaked! The mfg's kept quiet so they wouldnt lose money on a recall. You the tax payer pays a huge premium for our fire gear because it needs to be the BEST. I am so mad! In the accedamy you are taught that the first thing you do when disorionted or trapped is to activate your PASS device, we dont usually carry radios inside! Its our way of saying hey I am in trouble I need my brothers and sisters help.

Greedy bastards.

[edit on 4-2-2007 by LoneGunMan]

Can you put it in a zip lock baggy to keep it dry? That way you can still activate it if needed and it stays dry.

This is the first time i've even heard of a pass device so I'm just chiming in with the first thing that came to mind.

How old are yours?

What kind of regular maintenance program do you have? Are they inspected after every fire?

Don't completely blame the manufacturer. Many defects do not appear until after many years of being subjected to extreme heat, then cooling, banging around gear lockers and walls, exposed to all kinds of toxic fumes and smoke, soaked and dried repeatedly. The seals get damaged, or just age. The electronics inside are sensitive. All electronic devices have a shelf life and firefighting is hard on all kinds of gear. Continually test them and if yours no longer work then replace them.

And MSNBC is not always a reliable source of information. They have a corporate editorial policy of exaggeration and selective reporting.

We call them DSU's over here.

I remember when i was going though the BA training, i bounced mine off the side of the cage and set the bloody thing off. Would have been ok, but it was in a tower that they use for exercises (3 were running at the time) which i totally screwed up as all the other exercises came looking for me. Slightly embarrased to say the least.

I thought they were ment to be acid proof and everything, this is shocking news.

15 Firefighters have died recently because of failure or they were not loud enough. I am shocked also.

@ Dave_54 it is not just MSNBC sensationalism, some of them are failing due to water and are new. You asked about what mt dept. is using and if we have them tested after a fire.

We uses built in PASS that are part of our ISI Vicking SCBA, I think that ours are of the type that should not fail. That Vicking pack is sooo much better than the Scott airpacks I have to think the built in PASS is as well engineered as the rest of the pack.

For the peeps that are using somehting else is what I am concerned about, the CEO of one of the companies said he didnt think the unit taking on water and failing was a safety issue. I think all of us as the above poster has stated take our PASS device for granted. As we should. If I get tangled up in some wires while running an attack line my device had better work.

To mrwupy. Thank you for the suggestion, it is a good idea but for ours we have the pass device built into our regulator and it has a low and high pressure hose going into it.

It may work for the guys that have the add on PASS device though!