The operation of a fire department requires the storage and indoor operation of fire apparatus that are generally housed in an enclosed building. The need to keep the apparatus and other vehicles ready for immediate service and in good operating condition, which requires the indoor running of vehicles for response and routine service/pump checks, makes storage in an enclosed area, such as an apparatus bay, necessary. The exhaust from all internal combustion engines, including diesel and gasoline-powered engines, contains over 100 individual hazardous chemical components that, when combined, can result in as many as 10,000 chemical compounds. A large majority of these compounds are today listed by state and federal regulatory agencies as being cancer causing or suspected carcinogens. The target components listed by NIOSH/OSHA consist of both hydrocarbon carbon components and compounds, which are produced as both gas-phase and particulate-phase compounds. The gases and particulates, which are viewed by NIOSH and OSHA as life threatening, consist of a cancer-causing substance know as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Gases in diesel exhaust, such as nitrous oxide, nitorgen dioxide, formaldehyde, benzene, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, can create health problems. According to NIOSH, human and animal studies show that diesel exhaust should be treated as a human carcinogen (cancer causing substance). In accordance with NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards, as it pertains to diesel exhaust, NIOSH recommends that occupational exposure to carcinogens be limited to lowest feasible concentration. NIOSH uses OSHA's classification outlined in 29 CFR 1990.103, which states in part "Potential occupational carcinogen means any substance, or combination or mixture of substances, which causes an increased incidence of benign and/or malignant neoplasm, or a substaintial decrease in the latency period between exposure and onset of neoplasm in humans or in one or more experimental mammalian species as the result of any oral, respiratory or dermal exposure, or any exposure which results in the induction of tumors at a site other than the site of administration." This definition also includes any substance that is metabolized into one or more potential occupational carcinogen by mammals.

Over the past decade, it has been documented that fire department personnel exposed to vehicle exhaust emissions have had adverse health effects, including death, even in areas where only short-term exposure had taken place. Secondary effects of vehicle exhaust have been sighted in the storage of sterilized medical equipment. The equipment is contaminated by exhaust emissions, handled by emergency services personnel while treating the public, thus creating a path for cross-contamination to the general public. In addition, there has been an effect on contamination to computers and emergency service electronics due to carbon deposits that lead to malfunction.

For the previously stated reasons and numerous support documentation, this technical committee recognizes and advocates the need for elimination and the containment of all vehicle exhaust emissions to a level of no less than 100 percent effective capture. This complies with NIOSH's requirement to reduce emissions to the lowest feasible level in an effort to reduce the health impact on human life. This, in turn, reduces the department's liability and risk.

The containment of the vehicle exhaust emissions should be achieved with a goal of eliminating all exhaust emissions from the breathing zone of the human inhabitants present in the station. Any system installed to suit this purpose should be made using "best available control technology."

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2002 Edition, National Fire Protection Association - Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program

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Reprinted with permission from NFPA 1500, Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, Copyright - 2007, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA 02169. This reprinted material is not the complete and official position of the National Fire Protection Association on the referenced subject which is represented only by the standard in its entirety.