Local Company Donates Air Monitor To DFD
Wednesday, August 10th, 2022
The Dalton Fire Department now has another tool at its disposal to monitor air quality for dangerous chemicals thanks to a donation from a local manufacturer. Cargill Incorporated's local plant recently donated a new Drager XM-5000 air monitor to the fire department through the corporation's "Cargill Cares" initiative.
The partnership started with a training exercise for Dalton firefighters at the company's chemical manufacturing facility on Brookhollow Road. Firefighters trained on the site to practice hazardous materials responses and also confined space rescue drills. During the training, the company told fire department leaders that they were interested in giving back to the local public safety community.
Caption: Firefighter Justin Rishel and Chief Todd Pangle were joined by local Cargill employees recently as they accepted a donation of the new Drager XM-5000 air monitor
"They ended up asking for a list of things that we would like to have that weren’t really in the budget," said Justin Rishel, one of the department's training instructors. "We ended up giving them a list including this air monitor which is – we actually have several of them but this one is set up just a little bit different."
The new monitor has a special feature that checks for hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide - toxic gases that are often present after a fire has been put out. The combination of the two gases is known as the "toxic twins" for the danger they pose to firefighters. They can cause cardiac arrest during exposure or cancer years after exposure. The new monitor is carried on Squad 1, the heavy rescue truck.
"It’s kind of multipurpose kind of deal, it will primarily be used in hazmat calls, secondarily for confined space rescue calls which is two of the areas that we identified when we did that training down there (at Cargill)," Rishel said.. 'Then on top of that it’s kind of a bonus that it has the ability for special purpose monitoring for after fires during overhaul."
"This is a great partnership and one that I hope can be fostered among all the other companies," said Todd Pangle, Dalton's fire chief. "We're not looking for free stuff, just that partnership. And that’s exactly what I told Cargill, that we’re appreciative of the donated equipment but we’re more appreciative of their willingness to reach out and come in and say, 'let’s partner up.'"
"The fact that we have a local business that’s wanting to support this, this is something that we’re not having to use tax dollars to purchase," said Chief Pangle of the air monitor which cost $1,980. "It’s something that we’d need to keep and maintain in our cache of equipment anyway. So this just gives us the opportunity to invest in something different and it comes at a savings to the taxpayers."
Caption: The new air monitor
"It's a really great thing to have a local company that’s part of a larger corporation that is invested in our community in such a way that they want to support the emergency services," said Chief Pangle."
The company also has plans to donate more equipment to the agency in the future.
"They actually have some more stuff on the way for us, which is a weather station for hazmat calls," said Rishel. "It's a portable weather station to set up and the tripod and all of the little components we need to run it."
According to the company's website, Cargill Cares is a program through which "Cargill businesses and facilities and their employees also give through more than 350 employee-led Cargill Cares Councils worldwide. The councils provide support for local charitable and civic organizations and programs such as food relief agencies, school and youth programs, and local environmental projects."
