RIP
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RIP
Sadly, he died from Terminal Stupid.
Anyone who has had any sort of HazMat training understands a few basic rules.
1-The big 3- Uphill, Upwind and Upstream. If you ever encounter a suspected HazMat situation observe the big 3.
2- You NEVER attempt to rescue. You wait until the correct resources are in place to attempt rescue, otherwise it becomes a recovery, often for the original victim and those that attempted rescue.
It would not take much nitrogen to skew oxygen levels. IIRC optimum oxygen levels hover in the 19% range. If that ratio gets off by more than a percentages point either way it can have fatal consequences.
Sad case.
I will bet anyone $1 this case will be in my HAZWOPER refresher course this year.
Lest we forget, one person died, and it looks like a few were injured, so sad.
The articles are now saying the PD responded to a burglar alarm. Something else was going on maybe?
Sad that he died. I have no idea how you can breathe "liquid nitrogen in the air". The "air" would have to be extremely cold to keep the nitrogen in liquid form at atmospheric pressure.
Read something similar about several workers that died in Florida due to gas created by decomposing organic matter. One worker wouldn't respond so another would go in...then not respond, so another goes in...
I bet when this lady makes her recovery all she'll be able to talk about is how dumb this officer was and be totally embarrassed about the less than accurate press headlines.
If I am teaching it, it will be. This is a perfect example of so many things in the hazmat world. Yes as has been said it is a simple asphyxiant, it displaces oxygen in a space. Just for knowledge a chemical asphyxiant displaces oxygen at the cellular level (Carbon Monoxide or Hydrogen Cyanide). It has no Toxicological Data it has no PEL or IDLH. It is an asphyxiant and you must wear a supplied air respiratory protection.
Sucks he lost his life and others were injured, the circumstances around it will be interesting to read.
Your Google-Fu is strong. Thanks for finding that info. 3 contractors dead and nearly lost a firefighter responding to the situation.