Speaking at a meeting at the European Parliament organised by Fire Safe Europe, the European Fire Fighters Union Alliance (EFFUA) and MEPs Pavel Poc and Christel Schaldemose a range of experts and fire chiefs detailed how firefighters were not been adequately protected from the deleterious effects of smoke.
Of the more than 4,000 deaths and 70,000 hospitalisations attributable to fires in European buildings every year more more than half are caused not by the fire directly but by the smoke.
“Fire smoke contains a lethal cocktail of toxicants, yet there are no European regulations or testing protocols covering the smoke toxicity of construction materials,” said Professor Richard Hull, fire toxicity expert from the University of Central Lancashire.
“Lives are being unnecessarily put at risk by failing to address this issue,” said Mr Poc. “The inhalation of fire smoke causes chronic long-term health problems and is the tragic cause of far too many deaths in building fires.”
Mrs Schaldemose added: “The mechanism is already in place to introduce smoke toxicity testing for construction materials, so it is an unprecedented opportunity for the EU to take coordinated action on this issue.”
Deadly fumes also make the work of fire fighters highly dangerous. “Toxic smoke from these products is not only putting our health at risk — it’s also preventing us from saving the lives of others,” said Tommy Kjaer of the European Fire Fighters Union Alliance.
“Europe’s politicians need to address this issue urgently.
“As medical doctors, we do our best to save lives and we have European guidelines for it” added Marc Sabbe, professor in emergency and disaster medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven, “but there should be European guidelines to prevent deaths too”.
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