MRI areas

[Peter Wilkinson]

Whilst browsing through the Spring 05 issue of Fire Protection Engineering (the SFPE magazine) I saw an advert for novel portable fire extinguisher.  It uses the non-electrically conductive FE-36 firefighting agent, but, more importantly, the stainless steel shell is stated as being completely non-magnetic, and therefore suitable for use in MRI scanner rooms and the like.

Has anyone used/specifed these in the UK?  Has anyone thought 'I wish I could put a fire extinguisher in there' when doing a fire risk assessment of an MRI suite?

[Peter Wilkinson]

Is that a NO then?

[AnthonyB]

Several people do MRI compatible extinguishers now, mostly of the CO2 type - Chubb are one example springing to mind

[terry]

Now we are getting to interesting ground.

When you go into an MRI room, how do you know if it is safe for you personally  to come into contact with the static magnetic field of the machine? notably the five gauss line?

Are any of you fire guys fitted with pacemakers, have any metal bits in your eyes, or shrapnel in you body?

Why not increase fire protection of the walls to two hours say and use pyroc glass to the examination room window, shut the mains power off in the equipment room and shut the examination room door, letting the fire burn itself out?

I hope I have started another thread here.

Terry

[Chris Houston]

Now we are getting to interesting ground.

When you go into an MRI room, how do you know if it is safe for you personally  to come into contact with the static magnetic field of the machine? notably the five gauss line?

Are any of you fire guys fitted with pacemakers, have any metal bits in your eyes, or shrapnel in you body?

Why not increase fire protection of the walls to two hours say and use pyroc glass to the examination room window, shut the mains power off in the equipment room and shut the examination room door, letting the fire burn itself out?

I hope I have started another thread here.

Terry

I've been in plenty environments with dangerous magnetic fields other than MRI rooms.  Most of which contained equipment worth in excess of £500,000.  Most of which were not in modern buildings with good compartmentation, most of which I would be unhappy if I heard people would let a waste paper basket fire grow to engulf the entire room.

[terry1]

Hello Chris,

I'm grateful for your feedback.

I would question if firefighters are screened for magnetic compatibility before they are sent to sites where there is a static magnetic field.

If they are fitted with pacemakers or have metallic objects embedded in themselves (eyes for example) they could die or be blinded. The 5 gauss line is usually contained within the examination room by magnetic shielding, but sometimes passes into the adjacent equipment room.

I appreciate your comments, but there are obviously at least two ways of looking at the problem. I appreciate your viewpoint, but in the absence of firefighter screening, would it not be better to lose the machine than a life?

If anyone has any further comment to make, including yourself, Chris, then I would be pleased to hear them.

I think it would probably be better to carry out a risk assessment on firefighters and allocate only those who have magnetic compatibility to be on such a call.

Perhaps this is not organisationally possible.

How many fires are there in installations where firefighters are exposed to s magnetic fields?

Comments please

Terry

[Roy Grogan]

The subject of MRIs has been a cause for concern for sometime.

Only authorised persons - Radiography staff have right of access in my Trust and Superintendent Radiographer (Fire Team Leader BRONZE0 is in charge of any fire incident in that area.  Decision to quench the magnet is theirs alone - yes they even outrank the Chief Executive (Fire Team Leader GOLD) on this one.  Estimated cost of a quench is £15k and demagnetize time is still 15+minutes.

All staff who may be required to enter have been trained in need to remove all ferrous items prior to entry details of medical conditions not allowed into the suite are posted prominently and access doors are swipe card locked to prevent unauthorised entry.

I doubt many firefighters empty their pockets of ferrous items prior to turning out so to prevent accidents the local Fire & Rescue Service use our MRI compatible CO2's under the direction of Fire Team Leader BRONZE.  It works for us.  The magnet overheated soon after commissioning because it was damaged during installation.  New magnet was installed at manufacturers cost £0.8million!

If you want a copy of our protocol (which I sure is the same as many other places) please get in touch.

OK so Kettering is a bit rural where else am I likely to encounter megagauss risks?
Warm regards
Roy

[Psuedonym]

Whilst browsing through the Spring 05 issue of Fire Protection Engineering (the SFPE magazine) I saw an advert for novel portable fire extinguisher.  It uses the non-electrically conductive FE-36 firefighting agent, but, more importantly, the stainless steel shell is stated as being completely non-magnetic, and therefore suitable for use in MRI scanner rooms and the like.

Has anyone used/specifed these in the UK?  Has anyone thought 'I wish I could put a fire extinguisher in there' when doing a fire risk assessment of an MRI suite?

I was asked to supply non magnetic kit for a new MRI unit in Runcorn. I advised Amerex 9Lt Water Mist (Model No 272) for the fire cover, they are specifically designed for MRI's and are electrically safe to 35Kv as per BSEN3 and came with a 10 year guarentee.

I have also specified and sold FE36 as fire cover for IT rooms for a client. These too I researched to ensure they were approved and legal in the UK. (Esto Cheb Ltd - www.esto.cz approvals to EN3, Du Pont manufactured, UK distribution from Express Fire, Mcr )

[AnthonyB]

Gloria, Bavaria, Total & Chubb all manufacture 'MRI Safe' CO2 extinguishers in either 2 or 5 kilo, which being cheaper than FE-36 and more widely available than Amerex extinguishers, are more often used