Oximeter Loved by Fire Fighters

No matter where in the United States you may be, your local fire department is ready to serve the needs of your community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What a lot of people may not realize, is that easily over half of the fire fighters in your fire department are volunteers. The budgets for fire departments are constantly being challenged by rising costs and added territory to cover. These are just a few reasons why the fire department relies on its volunteers. The volunteer program also helps developed rookie fire fighters into professional fire fighters via on the job training. The fire department depends on many different tools for various events. The cost of these tools or devices are sometimes covered by the county or state, but more often than not, they are to be purchased by the fire department from the monetary funds allocated or earned by them.

One device that fire fighters heavily rely on is an oximeter. An oximeter, also known as a pulse oximeter, is a medical device used to measure the blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate of an individual. An oximeter is a required device for both the fire fighter and anyone being rescued by the fire fighter. As fire fighters go into fire situations, they must monitor their oxygen levels. If their oxygen levels fall below required limits, they run the risk of passing out. When the fire department rescues someone from a fire, they must keep record of their oxygen level as well. This allows them to determine how much smoke a person may have been exposed to. A modern oximeter is available in fingertip form, which costs about one hundred dollars or less, and runs on standard AAA batteries. The old bulky handheld or tabletop oximeter is now only needed I clinical settings. A new oximeter is compact and mobile.

Fire fighters all throughout the United States are purchasing a fingertip pulse oximeter for their departments. They have realized that a fire department can now provide each individual fire fighter his or her own oximeter, as compared to before where four to five fire fighters would share one unit. Fire fighters are required by the law to undergo periodic fit tests. These fit tests require the use of a pulse oximeter for the measurement of the individuals’ oxygen levels. This allows the fire department to determine who has the ability to perform their job.