Smoke inhalation part of the danger of house fires as seen this week, but do you understand the impact on the body.
Putnam County EMS Chief Tommy Copeland said smoke inhalation occurs when a person breathes in more carbon monoxide than oxygen due to the fire. That ultimately leads to suffocation. Copeland said often times people die of smoke inhalation during their sleep without ever knowing. Believe it or not, Copeland said smoke inhalation is the number one cause of death from house fires.
“A lot of these fires where you get the smoke inhalation, you know, there may be a slower burn kind of thing, where you are just getting a lot of heavy smoke as opposed to the fire, and that is what actually takes them,” Copeland said. “But yeah, the smoke inhalation deaths are prevalent in house fires.”
Copeland said depending on what is in the smoke, smoke inhalation can cause long-term respiratory problems. Copeland said some of the common materials in homes, when burned, can really create health issues.
“I think just starting off with your furniture,” Copeland said. “You know, you think about all the foam, rubber, and stuff like in a couch or a chair, the fabrics. Many times, you don’t know what they are. They are not as frequently a naturally occurring material, now more often than not they are something that is synthetic and all that. So you have chemicals involved in the stuff that it releases.”
Copeland said responders usually check the oxygen saturation first when treating someone who is suffering from smoke inhalation.
“You know that’s where they put the thing on your finger to check your blood oxygen,” Copeland said. “That’s not always accurate when you’ve got carbon-monoxide involved for a variety of reasons, too complex to kind of go into. Also want to check the amount of gas that they are putting off and giving them high-flow oxygen. Sometimes we’ve got some medications that we can give to help open the airways up and all of that.”
Copeland said if the smoke inhalation is significant, then he recommends that those people see a physician or a pulmonologist. Copeland said prevention is key. Copeland said working smoke alarms and closing the bedroom door at night can really make a difference.