The Bend Fire Department will soon start carrying a cyanide antidote to combat the risk of cyanide poisoning from a structure fire.
Steve O’Malley, the Bend Fire Department’s deputy chief of Emergency Medical Services, said cyanide is a product of combustion and is released as various materials burn.
“As you change those materials that are being burned — as in a home that is filled with molded plastics, televisions, lots of synthetic fabrics, carpeting, all those things — they release a lot more cyanide than organic products,” O’Malley said.
The department has purchased the antidote, called hydroxocobalamin, and will have it at the scene of fires by the end of the week, O’Malley said.