Lompoc Fire Department improves firefighter safety with exhaust extraction systems install

Oct 27, 2023

Lompoc Fire Department Battalion Chief Scott Nunez showcases the station's new exhaust extraction system that helps remove and reduce toxic gases and particulates caused by the combustion process which fill engine bays.

The Lompoc Fire Department recently installed $100,000 exhaust extraction systems in the engine bays at both fire stations in an effort to improve firefighter safety by reducing toxic fumes that can cause cancer.

Lompoc Fire Battalion Chief Scott Nunez explained that diesel engines, including firetrucks, produce toxic gases mixed with particulates from the combustion process which fill engine bays.

The systems reduce exhaust inside the bays, "which in turn, reduces the cancer-causing carcinogens that are there, and the diesel soot and everything else," he said.

The extraction systems, created by Plymovent and paid through the city's general fund, are designed to connect pipes magnetically from the engine bay ceiling directly to the exhaust pipes on the department's vehicles. The pipes then funnel fumes through a filter to remove some particulates before pushing them out the roof of the station and into the atmosphere.

Whenever the vehicles are running in the bay, or pulling in or out, the pipes are connected, Nunez said.

Cancer has impacted the Lompoc Fire Department directly, according to Nunez, who cited a firefighter who took leave during his cancer fight and recently returned to work.

"Every fire station should have one of these," he said. "This is going to be a game-changer."

Lisa André covers lifestyle and local news for Santa Ynez Valley News and Lompoc Record, editions of the Santa Maria Times.