The Sandy Springs Fire Department is now better equipped to help its own firefighters with $80,000 in safety equipment like Buddy Breathing devices, which Assistant Fire Chief Mark Duke said will help members of truck and engine companies save each others’ lives.

“We have a standard Air-Pak, which is what we wear when we run into a burning building,” Duke said about a self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA, made by Monroe, N.C.-based Scott Health and Safety. “What [Buddy Breathing] allows us to do is if we become entangled, trapped or disoriented, and we’re exhausting all the air in our cylinders, it’s a system that allows two firefighters to tag into one another and help get him out.”

Deputy Fire Chief Dennis S. Ham said the system allows firefighters to share the air of one SCBA and prevent a grisly alternative. “As you can fully understand, the first reaction any firefighter who runs out of air will have is to pull off his or her facepiece and gasp for air,” Ham said. “Our problem is that the air is superheated and will scorch the mouth, throat and lungs in one breath, not to mention the toxic smoke that could also be inhaled.”

Rescue efforts are further enhanced by four Scott RIT-Pak II bags — one for each fire station — combining essential tools like an extra facepiece, longer air hose and interchangeable 60-minute oxygen cylinders.

“At all fires when we have firefighters entering a building where there is immediate danger to life and health, we establish a Rapid Intervention Team that stands by outside the structure, fully prepared to make a quick entry in order to rescue firefighters who get into trouble or may become trapped,” Ham said. “The bag is designed to be easily carried, compact and lightweight so that crews can get to a victim quickly.”

Duke said the equipment, purchased out of the department’s 2009 $494,500 capital machinery and equipment budget, puts time on the side of the rescuers.

“We have our masks and our suits, but if we lose air, that’s it,” Duke said. “Nobody wants to get burned, but I’ll take burning over not being able to breathe any day of the week.”

The purchase included 41 Buddy Breathing systems and 90 voice amplifiers for facepieces.