it's recognized as the most hazardous
professional the country the National
injury rate among firefighters is
fourteen percent and in Boston the rate
is often double that average what gives
the city it's john is a firefighters
nightmare lots of old buildings
concealed spaces spraying least archers
from the outside surround and approaches
as the Commissioner of the old Stapleton
says unless the goal is to make a lot of
it's inside
500
that number has been reduced to about 50
thanks in large part to staples in his
determination he'd been a Boston
firefighters since nineteen fifty-one
and worked his way up to deputy chief
when he wrote a letter about the smoke
inhalation problem and distributed it
around the country it was a call for
help in Boston over period of a couple
of decades we had ten members killed
while utilizing the type of equipment
that they had then so it's very clear to
us as well as too many other fire
departments that we had to have
something better but they really didn't
seem anyone who was gonna try to develop
it NASA risk on the rock an engineer is
at the Johnson Space Center began
adapting life-support system technology
used by Apollo astronauts on the moon
the result an improved breathing
apparatus now being used by firefighters
around the world manufactured by Scott
aviation the system consists of a face
mask harness frame and air tank it's
much lighter and more reliable than its
predecessor but the most important
factor is that firefighters like can use
the system the first year that we
utilize the NASA system we reduce smoke
inhalation injuries from 500 down to 50
and there was a tremendous improvement
but also our effect and controlling
fires we were able to penetrate the
building deeper and do our job better
and firefighters will the first one to
realize how effective it was
it was like
reading system