Seems to be a lot of chatter in the EMT/Fire world about instances of suicide by hydrogen sulfide.  Anyone make any runs on this?  

Link to article

DANIEL MILLER
WISH  
Reprinted with Permission

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Investigators allowed students back into Willkie Residence Hall Tuesday night. Hundreds were evacuated after Bloomington HAZMAT crews found an IU student dead inside his room with a note warning of hazardous gas.

Just after two o’clock Tuesday afternoon, Indiana University Police got a call to the residence hall on a welfare check. After going to the third floor of the building, officers called for HAZMAT crews after detecting a chemical in the air.

"The Bloomington Township HAZMAT team arrived, went upstairs and, with their instruments, indicated there was no hazardous chemical or anything in the air," said IU Police Chief Jerry Minger.

Investigators evacuated students living on the second, third and fourth floors as a precaution. Officers said they attempted to go through one room but it had been sealed from the inside and barricaded.

"When the staff entered through the first door of the room, on the door of the closet there was a sign which said ‘Warning H2S’, which indicates hydrogen sulfide, which is toxic," Chief Minger said. "Our officers went up to do a closer search with the team on the second trip to the room and they found a deceased male, believed to be the student that resided there.”

Investigators said the student was inside the closet. Next to him was a bucket of hydrogen sulfide.

"The bucket was actually open where chemicals had been mixed," said Chief Minger.

Max Weinberg lives on the third floor. Weinberg said he’s surprised by what happened.

"I actually went to an exam this afternoon and came back and they wouldn’t let us up, so I went away for a while," said Weinberg.

Stan Caudle said the entire incident could have been much worse.

"I mean it’s sad that somebody had to take their life over something. We don’t know what it was and it’s just sad to hear that happen. But I mean, especially in a way could harm potentially how many other students that could live in this dorm. It’s kind of scary," said Caudle.

IU police said until an autopsy is performed, they won’t know exactly how student died but they don't suspect foul play at this point.

yeah ran into a suicide where a lady used it in her car. nasty stuff.

Had a guy try it here, but he apparently didn't use the right ingredients as he lived and our meters didn't pick up any H2S.

Info:

http://www.colofirechiefs.org/chemical_suicides.htm

Article:

http://www.firehouse.com/topics/rescue-and-special-ops/trics-trade-new-hazmat-threat-comes-us

There was one at Lucky Peak reservoir or Arrowrock Reservoir in Boise a few months ago.

Same type situation. H2S gas detected. The guy had put the Hazmat stickers all over his vehicle to warn others way.

St Petersburg PD here in Florida had one a few months ago.  Guy left a note but one officer had to go to the hospital for exposure.  Nasty stuff!  http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/st-petersburg-man-mixes-chemicals-to-commit-suicide-authorities-say/1073048
A safety bulletin went around recently also.

We had this topic up at least once in the past few months. At the time or one of those times, I commented how it had appeared in Japan a few short years ago before the US. Ie, keywords: hydrogen sulfide suicide, japan.

As with a lot of things in this line of work, it often comes down to half of heard of it and half haven't. I was at a first aid class and something of an accident management lesson the other month and I brought it up................I think I was the only one in the room, instructor included, who knew about it.

yep we have had a couple in the area. Luckily they have followed the internet suggestions of putting up signs and warnings in the area (car) where they did it, so no good guys got hurt. We have had a big jump (like 4 in the past couple of weeks) of suicide using helium tanks to displace the air in a bag over the head. They have been using the small single use tanks that you get at Home Depot or party stores for ballons.

J-

We had an officer safety bulletin come out a few weeks ago.  It referenced the Colorado Chiefs bulletin that is referenced in an above post.  Good info for first responders.

we have had 2 near us in the last 6 months signs posted and they were in cars

We just did a training on it last month.



During the training, we used two items mixed in a bucket and put it in a car. The monitoring team picked up H2S and a false positive of cyanide. We didn't use a lot to try and keep the ppm low (there are a few businesses near our HM training center) but were still picking up anywhere from 60-100ppm after about fifteen minutes inside the car.



There was one a county over from us, but we haven't had one yet. There have been a few in MI total.