Wednesday, September 8, 2010 On September 5th at 1000hrs. the B shift Lieutenant and a senior firefighter were returning to the station from a special detail. The two personnel stated that they smelled a foul odor to the likes of rotten eggs. Moments later the Senior firefighter became disoriented and finally losing consciousness. The Lieutenant was able to return the vehicle to the station as they were less than a block away. As they pulled into the station the rest of the on-duty personnel witnessed them pulling in and acting irrationally and the Lieutenant collapsed to the ground and began gasping for air. As the personnel rushed to aid the down firefighters they heard a hissing sound coming from the interior of the vehicle. The two down firefighters were transported to a level 1 trauma center with respiratory distress. Upon inspection of the vehicle, it was found that a 12v lead battery that had been installed in the rear compartment of the vehicle to charge all of the ancillary equipment, had overcharged and became overheated and vented hydrogen sulfide into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The benefit to both of these firefighters was the fact that it was a beautiful summer day and they had their windows down. The ITX meter in the rear of the truck was on when this event happened and it is recorded that the passenger compartment received hydrogen sulfide over the amounts of 50ppm within seconds.

LESSONS LEARNED: There should not be a battery installed in the passenger compartment of any vehicle without proper ventilation. If the amount of electronics in the vehicle is draining the battery to a point that another battery needs to be installed, then the amount of equipment being stored in the vehicle needs to be evaluated or the layout of the vehicle needs to be considered.