Fire/Smoke Mask Recommendation?

[9mm guy]

In case of a fire in our house, I'm looking for a mask/breathing type of device to protect against the smoke. (which obviously is the biggest killer rather than the flames) I'm surprised that I'm having trouble looking for a simple, affordable one. (ideally one for each member of our family) Can anyone recommend a good device? Especially those who may be firemen who view this site?

Here's what I've found so far, and I would love to get your opinions on which ones I should avoid or which ones are good in your opinion:

This one looked good at first glance until I realized it's $70 for only 5 minutes of safe breathing. I don't live in a mansion but I need more time than that to search my house to make sure my family is safe and out of the house.
Amazon.com: Safety iQ - Saver Emergency Breath System - Fire Safety Breathing System - Portable One-Person Unit: Industrial & Scientific

I also found the following two on Amazon:

Amazon.com: KIKAR Emergency Escape Hood Oxygen Mask Respirator 60 Minutes Fire Smoke Toxic Filter: Health & Personal Care

Amazon.com: Smoke Escape Hood: Health & Personal Care

And I found this one on eBay:
FIREMASK Emergency Escape Mask - URBAN SURVIVAL / FIRE PREPPER Hotel Highrise... | eBay

Please let me know your opinions. And thanks in advance for your answers.

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[Syzygy]

A significant cause of damage and loss of life from smoke is heat. These devices will not protect your lungs from the temperature of the smoke, which can kill and incapacitate you in truly terrible ways. This is one reason why firefighters use supplied air masks.

If you intend to carry out search and rescue inside your house while it is burning, you need a supplied air mask, like a scottpak.

Scott Air-Pak SCBA - Wikipedia

I believe the only barrier to ownership is cost.

Prior to this I recommend development of a practical fire emergency plan for your home, carry out training with your family, and practice this plan regularly.

Additionally, ensure you have operable smoke alarms, CO detectors, and fire extinguishers in the appropriate areas of your home.

These masks are meant for escape and I personally find them dubious for that application. I would not recommend using them for any kind of search and rescue.

Volunteer firefighter 4 years, Navy sub mechanic 5 years. I know some things about burning things.

 

[Certaindeaf]

how 'bout a scuba tank
oh, don't die
I stayed at a holliday inn

 

[9mm guy]

A significant cause of damage and loss of life from smoke is heat. These devices will not protect your lungs from the temperature of the smoke, which can kill and incapacitate you in truly terrible ways. This is one reason why firefighters use supplied air masks.

If you intend to carry out search and rescue inside your house while it is burning, you need a supplied air mask, like a scottpak.

Scott Air-Pak SCBA - Wikipedia

I believe the only barrier to ownership is cost.

Prior to this I recommend development of a practical fire emergency plan for your home, carry out training with your family, and practice this plan regularly.

Additionally, ensure you have operable smoke alarms, CO detectors, and fire extinguishers in the appropriate areas of your home.

These masks are meant for escape and I personally find them dubious for that application. I would not recommend using them for any kind of search and rescue.

Volunteer firefighter 4 years, Navy sub mechanic 5 years. I know some things about burning things.

Thank you for your reply. Your background is exactly whom I wanted to ask this to. I'm all set with smoke alarms & extinguishers around the house.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm not looking to do professional, prolonged search & rescue with these masks. I have little kids under the age of 6. Our master bedroom is downstairs. And so if there's a fire at night, I just need a few minutes to run upstairs & grab them to get the hell out. (providing I'm not obstructed by fire or anything else.) And so for that purposes, would you recommend one of these masks? Thanks.

 

[HenryJ]

...And so for that purposes, would you recommend one of these masks? Thanks.

No.

25 years Hazmat Tech, 20 years Firefighter, 16 years EMT

I think the above advice was sound. Smoke detectors. Train them young. I know of one family who thanked me for teaching their son at the county fair. He was six. He grabbed his sister (4) and got her out of the house when their house caught fire. The year before he was in my class and learned to feel the door for heat. Crawl on the floor and just get out to the meeting place. They had a plan and it worked. The next fair he brought his sister to the smoke house to learn what he had. Very cool experience for me.
Kids love it and learn quick.

The problem is indeed going to be the heat and smoke. New construction really goes fast. Materials burn hot with toxic gases. The problem I see with the masks you linked is they do not address the lack of oxygen. There still needs to be some breathable air.
If you are "dead" set on having something, then invest in a wildland bandana this would at least be valuable outside in a defensive mode where plenty of good air is still available.

 

[Syzygy]

I would not recommend these masks for any kind of use in a hazardous environment. I want to express in the strongest possible way that I do not think they are the right tool for what you are discussing and using them for that application could kill you. The bare minimum for this is some kind of supplied air mask for the reasons I outlined above.

If you are absolutely committed to trying to maneuver inside an evolving structure fire, you need something like this at a minimum.

Respirators :: Respiratory Mask :: Respiratory Protection :: Dusk Masks :: eSafetySUpplies, Inc

Your ensemble should also include a flash hood and gauntlets.

If you really want to get a filter mask for this application, there are these.

S-CAP Hood in Air-Purifying Respirators (APR) | MSA - The Safety Company | United States

Keeping in mind that this is still an escape respirator, it is from a known reputable manufacturer and has testing and data to back up its claims. I have also relied on other MSA products in the past and I am not dead yet.

I hope I have answered your questions, if you have an more feel free to ask.

 

[etrain16]

Maybe one of our resident firefighting experts @Ura-Ki can make a suggestion for you?

 

[Ura-Ki]

Not really sure what the OP has in mind here, so I will assume were talking about a disabled person who is otherwise unable to extricate them selves out quickly This paints a different picture! I would still not commend any gear, I would focus on evaluating the structure looking for ways to improve the chances of getting out. Smoke/Gas detectors and, I would invest in a sprinkler system with auto heat triggers and manual override. Beyond that, breathing apparatus is costly, very high maintenance, and usually have a certification life that is pretty short. they are also a bad idea because they can give a false sense of security! JMO

 

[9mm guy]

[...
If you are "dead" set on having something, then invest in a wildland bandana this would at least be valuable outside in a defensive mode where plenty of good air is still available.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your reply. I'm so glad you told me so that I don't waste my money.

 

[9mm guy]

[...

I hope I have answered your questions, if you have an more feel free to ask.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your reply. I'm so glad you told me so that I don't waste my money.

 

[EPS]

A significant cause of damage and loss of life from smoke is heat. These devices will not protect your lungs from the temperature of the smoke, which can kill and incapacitate you in truly terrible ways. This is one reason why firefighters use supplied air masks.

If you intend to carry out search and rescue inside your house while it is burning, you need a supplied air mask, like a scottpak.

Scott Air-Pak SCBA - Wikipedia

I believe the only barrier to ownership is cost.

Prior to this I recommend development of a practical fire emergency plan for your home, carry out training with your family, and practice this plan regularly.

Additionally, ensure you have operable smoke alarms, CO detectors, and fire extinguishers in the appropriate areas of your home.

These masks are meant for escape and I personally find them dubious for that application. I would not recommend using them for any kind of search and rescue.

Volunteer firefighter 4 years, Navy sub mechanic 5 years. I know some things about burning things.

Just get out of the house have a plan the mask you are talking bout that firefighter use are very expensive

 

[EPS]

how 'bout a scuba tank
oh, don't die
I stayed at a holliday inn

Not a good idea as they are rubber and will melt to your face and then you will die have a plan to leave your house as fast as possible even firefighter 's crawl on the ground with there mask when searching a burning building

 

[Certaindeaf]

Not a good idea as they are rubber and will melt to your face and then you will die have a plan to leave your house as fast as possible even firefighter 's crawl on the ground with there mask when searching a burning building View attachment 361304

Well at least you got air but I hear you. I'd think it'd melt about as fast as your skin.. you don't want either but you gotta breathe

 

[EPS]

My sister is a fire fighter and she goes to the school and teach the kids about leaving the house in a fire and one thing they say is crawling to a way out .they have the teacher black out the window 's and turn off the lights in class room and have a firefighter crawl into the room with full gear on breathing with there SBCA lol it sounds like DARTH VADER coming in the room crawling on the ground just so that the kids would know not to be scared if they where ever stuck in a burning building so that guy or girl crawling on the ground with the scary mask and loud breathing is a good guy or girl there to help them

 

[EPS]

I was a deck hand on a large fishing boat back in the 90's and as being a deck hand we were also trained in firefighting on the boat only had to put on the gear one time for a real fire in the engine room small fire on a engine used for a generator but lots of smoke able to put out fire with a couple of fire extinguisher 's but still very scary and I was 24 year's old I can only imagine what a 5 or 6 or even older kid would be thinking in a fire

 

[fyrediver]

I am a Firefighter, Fire Investigator, and Fire Inspector so I too know a bit about burning things.

If you truly want to preserve your family then invest in a house with sprinklers and an alarm system. They REALLY save lives and inhibit the fire at the start at the point of ignition. Modern houses burn quite rapidly and the glued materials (beams, joists, stairs etc) fail quickly from heat and smoke not simply fire contact. 13D sprinkler systems are designed to get people out of the house which is your stated end goal. A single residential sprinkler puts 13 gallons a minute directly onto the fire so it slows/stops the fire growth immediately. An engine company takes 4+ minutes to respond AFTER the fire has been detected and called to Dispatch. Fire doubles in size and intensity every minute; you do the math.

Compartmentalizing the house is another thing you can, and should, do. Solid core doors will keep the fire at bay for quite a while. Hollow core doors burn through pretty easily. Close doors at night when sleeping and most vulnerable. Make sure smoke detectors are in and outside of every sleeping area and on every floor. Interlink them so they all go off together. Close doors after you've left a room during a fire will also slow the fire and smoke's movement.

Having a family escape plan is also key. Having standoff escape ladders in the upper floor rooms should be mandatory. Getting out without having to transit the house from an upper floor would be safer than putting on a mask and stumbling through the smoke, heat, flames, and darkness. Laddering the upper windows and getting the kids out from outside would be better than taking them through the smoke as well.

Of course Fire Prevention is better than the best response. Eliminating the causes of fire and preventing it should be critical. Candles, smoking (especially using a planter with potting soil for an ashtray!), unsupervised cooking, overloading electrical, dumping hot coals from the bbq or fireplace into a paper bag on the deck, dirty chimney and dryer vent, kids playing with matches, fireworks, burning garbage in the fire place, dried Christmas trees are all causes of fires I've investigated. Eliminate the causes of uncontrolled fire is better than a sprinkler system and an escape plan.

As far as Search and Rescue its a dicey endeavor even with professionally trained firefighters responding who are professionally equipped. I personally have gone through the floor in a third floor apartment and was dangling over the fire; luckily I'm part of a crew and they pulled me out. Without my turnouts on I would have been horribly burnt while hanging there.

Trying to SAR with a simple filter mask is not a good idea. There are many toxic gases in smoke that I don't trust those masks to filter out. Of course it's better than breathing the smoke directly but they are designed to ESCAPE not search and linger. The low oxygen, toxic gases, high temperatures etc will overwhelm a filter mask VERY quickly.

I strongly encourage Prevention, Sprinklers, and a good plan.

 

[9mm guy]

[...The low oxygen, toxic gases, high temperatures etc will overwhelm a filter mask VERY quickly.

I strongly encourage Prevention, Sprinklers, and a good plan.[/QUOTE]

Wow, that's fantastic information and advice. That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[HB of CJ]

Lots of professional firefighters here. A little to add. You need to reconsider your fire evacuation plan. Staying inside or re entering a burning home is suicide. Logically speaking and this is vary hard and harsh, if you have a working fire anywhere inside your home and if your family is trapped or unable to escape, then probably they are already dead or will quickly become so.

Immediate evacuation planning is the best ideal. How old are the family members? Can they drill fire exac plans? Do you have a plan? Do you work the plan? Keep it simple. Like said, there is stuff available for the residential home today that we years ago only dreamed of. But most of it is retro installation stuff and expensive. May not $work$. Also one can work on prevention.

Home fire prevention is an important part of a fire understanding and evac plan. Lots of information available nowadays. Good luck. I am a long retired Fire Fighter. Drove a triple or ladder for a ISO Class One department. AS and BS degrees in Fire Science. Also PM and RN training. But .... this was long ago and far away. Listen to the new guys. They know their shiet. Good luck.

 

[9mm guy]

[...Listen to the new guys. They know their shiet. Good luck.[/QUOTE]

Fantastic, all you fire guys are corroborating each other's information. That gives me confidence in knowing how to properly prepare for a fire and ditch the idea of buying these masks. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[etrain16]

BTW, I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but you should have at least one (maybe 2, 3) working fire extinguishers in your house. I've had to use them 3 times - each time preventing a big fire from happening. First two were when things got out of hand in the fireplace (once when kerosene soaked cardboard was tossed in to burn and the fire came out the front and up to the ceiling!) - each time the extinguishers made quick work of preventing a big fire from happening.

3rd time, the trucks actually rolled. We had a ceiling exhaust fan in a bathroom go locked-rotor, unknown to us. It was running after a shower, door was closed. It caught fire, ignited the plastic housing, which dropped burning plastic on the floor and wall, igniting numerous items. I heard a strange noise and just as I got up to investigate, the smoke detectors all went off (chained). I pop the door open and there were flames floor to ceiling. I slammed the door closed and yelled to my wife to grab our daughter and her phone, get out and call 911. While they were evacuating, I grabbed my extinguisher which was nearby. What I did next may not be recommended by the firefighters here, but I popped the door again and sprayed the flames from floor to ceiling and closed the door and got out myself. When the trucks arrived, I was in the front yard, still holding the extinguisher, and still in a little shock over what happened. As it was, I had knocked out the flames, so it didn't have a chance to spread, but they still had to pull the ceiling down to be sure the fire hadn't spread into the attic, thankfully it hadn't.

If a fire happens, you may have a few seconds to react and prevent a bigger fire. But if that can't happen, you need to be prepared to get out as soon as you can.