It's a tool that can be the difference between life and death on the scene of a fire. The Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department is now making sure every crew has a special kit that can treat patients for smoke inhalation.
A house fire on Saturday could have been a tragedy, but firefighters say the victim inside was saved by a tool they recently started carrying.
"It's one of the few treatments that we carry that we can actually see an immediate reaction, almost like if you gave Narcan to an overdose patient," KCFD Division Chief Michael Latta said.
It's called a Cyanokit and it removes cyanide from the blood after smoke inhalation.
“Now, what we've learned is almost every material that’s synthetic, if it’s in your house and it burns, it produces cyanide,” Latta said.
He said that means anyone in a burning building is likely breathing that toxic cyanide in.