Group Forums >> Volunteer Firefighters >> scba's
scba's
|
Posted 6 months ago my department is currently looking to replace our scba's. Anyone have any suggestions on the best ones for a small rural fire department. |
|
| Posted 6 months ago MSA's were a standard for all of the departments I have been on or worked with. When life hands you lemons, cut them up.......and squeeze them in life's eye. |
|
| Posted 6 months ago I would read up on NFPA standards. If I recall, there is going to be a change soon that will require most departments to upgrade to a certain standard. I forget exactly what it was. Possibly radio interface, bottle type, etc. Jeff Draper
|
|
|
| Posted 6 months ago Thanks guy's, I have heard a lot of good things about MSA's. I also will due some research on NFPA standards. |
|
| Posted 6 months ago I have used MSA, Scott, ISI, and Survivair. Through a grant, we got new scba's about 5 or 6 years ago. We tried out several different ones. We went with the Survivair and I love them. Light, comfy, tough. They have worked well. |
|
|
| Posted 6 months ago We have ISI's. Light high pressure bottle, LED lights in mask, speaker system, radio interface, but no quick disconnect from the mask. Jeff Draper
|
|
|
| Posted 6 months ago sounds nice |
|
| Posted 6 months ago I just bought new scba's for my dept. I went with the MSA, LED's for the heads up display, light, comfy, good fit, but I stayed with the low pressure system...after all I'm old and I need a break after 20 minutes of being inside...no really our comprsessor was low pressure and we didn't have money for a high pressue compressor. Oh and all my FF's like the new MSA's also.
|
|
| Posted 6 months ago Draager. They are the best but pricey. $6800 each for the new 2008's |
|
| Posted 6 months ago chase1 said: I personally like these as you can quickly switch from on/off air. Ours have these features plus the quick release.. not sure why chase's don't. we also have the older isi's. |
|
|
| Posted 6 months ago Ya, they have that slide valve on the mask to switch from air to bottle. Maybe ours are older? The disconnect is halfway down the hose, leaving you walking around like an elephant. I like the other one that 1/4 turns onto the mask. They are great aside from that though. Jeff Draper
|
|
| Posted 6 months ago Scott 4.2 are good my old department had them and i do miss them. But i also like the MSA. Be safe
|
|
| Posted 6 months ago we use Scott 4500, they are nice, but i like the new ones that have the LEDs in the mask.. we also have the speaker system on most of our masks..... ours are pretty light too... |
|
| Posted 6 months ago we use scotts and like them pretty well. |
|
| Posted 6 months ago we have surviv air 2216 and the 4500 bottles most of the 2216 has the heads up display. |
|
| Posted 6 months ago I have used SCOTT and MSA and like SCOTT better myself but thats just my personal opion i mean i would look at what your sorrounding companys have because in my county every station has SCOTT And in one County over just about 90 % of there Stations have SCOTTS it makes things alot easier when everybody has the same and granted that sometimes budgets will only allow you to get a certan type of SCBA . |
|
| Posted 5 months ago I use MSA at home and SCOTT out at college. Personally I like MSA's a lot better. I getter a seal every time with MSA and I'm lucky if I get a seal with a SCOTT mask(medium or large). Another thing I like about the MSA's is the heads up screen in the mask. The new SCOTTs might have that as well but I don't know about that. |
|
| Posted 5 months ago DocBernard said: most depts around here use MSA. we do, and everyone loves them. from experience i can tell ya that you get a seal EVERYTIME with MSA. the FF's using Scott complain constantly about bad seal... |
|
| Posted 5 months ago We use MSA firehawks, very pleased. They are light and comes with 50' of Kevlar line in the rescue belt. I also like that you can get the accountability system for them. |
|
| Posted 5 months ago I have only used scott and never had any complaints |
|
| Posted 5 months ago scott is the only way to go |
|
|
| Posted 5 months ago the pass devices we have on our MSA's are nice as well...very little down time and they start going off... |
|
| Posted 5 months ago I pefer the MSA Stealth System. Our department has 15. The pack, bottle and all, 9 pounds!! |
|
| Posted 4 months ago We use SCOTTS on my VFD. I havent had the chance to use one in a real event, but look forward to it. |
|
| Posted 4 months ago My department uses the Survivair HP. I personally like the MSA Firehawks / M-7s. Now that is a great pack. To many problems with the Scott we had and went with survivair. I would ask the sales rep to bring by packs, so you can demo them. You will like the MSA M-7. |
|
| Posted 4 months ago Dräger makes everything really well. I don't like the narrow window on MSA masks...Survivair has better peripheral vision. But for my money, my favorite, where you can switch from pressure-demand to continuous flow, and great fit, bells & whistles, you name it, is a brand no one on here has yet mentioned...NORTH. Am I just weird? |
|
| Posted 4 months ago chase1 said: My department just got 10 ISI Z Sevens through a grant. We went 4500psi packs this time around as most other departments in the area are going to them as well. These ones still have the slide valve on front of the mask and you still walk around like an elephant as the connections for the airline and mic are about a foot away from the mask. These packs are slightly heavier than our old ISIs because we stayed with the same physical size bottle. So now instead of 30 min. of air we have 45 min. Even though they are heavier, I really like these packs. Heads up display, vibrating mask when you are low on air or it could be part of the PASS system, I can't remember, but it is nice. Donald Bramer
|
|
| Posted 4 months ago We just started using the new Scott 4.5 high pressure system with heads up display, integrated PASS with vibralert, and the voice amplifiers and we really like them. Before we got these, we were using a mix of ISI and Scott. We have been completely impressed with the new Scotts. Ross Caston
|
|
| Posted 4 months ago At work we use tha Scott 4.5 SCBA with the 45 minute bottles. They have the LED HUD and it is an option to each individual if they want the speaker or not, they also have a quick connect RIT connector on the rear of the pack wich comes in handy in high stress situations. My volunteer dept. uses the Survivair SCBA with a 2200 psi. 30 min. bottle that are much lighter, but you notice a big diference in the capacity of the bottles when doing SCBA drills and fire ground operations. |
|
|
| Posted 4 months ago OK, my contact at North, Chris, sez that they elected not to make SCBAs for firefighting. They're still the best for hazmat. He tells me that they have a sister company that makes NFPA-certified ones, and I'll post the details as soon as he e-mails me the data. |