Breathing Apparatus (CABA).....

We have Breathing Apparatus (Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus) to protect our respiratory system from smoke, toxic gases/powders, heat and asphyxiation (oxygen deficiency). Breathing Apparatus are regularly used at house/structure fires (including factories and sheds), vehicle fires, hazardous material (dangerous substance) spillages, dust fires (silos, etc.), gas leaks and fires, and many more situations.

Sabre Centurion CABA

We carry 6 Sabre Centurion Positive-Pressure sets between our 2 Fire Appliances (four on 'Eden Pumper' and two on 'Eden 24'). The positive-pressure function also gives us extra protection in hazardous material spillage situations.

Our members have special training to be qualified to wear CABA, which includes a thorough medical check and skills in search, rescue, casualty handling, dark/smokey/confined spaces, heat & humidity effects, guideline work, set recommissioning and working under extreme fire circumstances. We also must continue to wear and operate a CABA in fire-like training situations, at least once every 3 months, and be re-accredited formally in order to stay competent and wear the sets at real incidents.

Our sets have attached a personal guideline in a pouch, small maglite torch (AA size), Distress Signalling Unit (DSU) which is manually operated and only deactivated with a tally key and a warning whistle set at at around 50 bar. The 9 litre fibreglass wrapped aluminium cylinders hold up to 207 bar of pressurised air, giving approximately 40 minutes of work time (this amount of time varies greatly depending on the level of activity and general physiology of the operator) plus a 10 minute safety margin.