LA PINE – Whether it’s spewing from a burning house or puffing out of the exhaust pipe of a fire engine, firefighters do not like smoke.

That’s why employees of the La Pine Rural Fire Protection District say they are pleased with the exhaust removal system that was recently installed in two of the district’s three fire stations. The system is currently being installed in the third station, said Fire Chief Jim Court.

Before the installation, fumes from fire trucks and ambulances lingered in the fire station, even after the vehicles had left the building or had been turned off, Court said.

The new system is a set of vacuum hoses that hang from tracks on the ceiling. When a truck pulls up to the station, a firefighter manually attaches one of the hoses to the truck’s exhaust pipe. The hose then transports exhaust out of the building.

When a truck leaves the building, its hose is pulled along the track until it hits a release point and automatically detaches from the truck.

”It’s just not nice to have the bays full of smoke,” said Lt. James Palmer, a firefighter-paramedic for the district. ”It’s enough diesel exhaust in there without the system that you could definitely smell it and sometimes you could see it.”

The Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization classify diesel exhaust as a probable human carcinogen, said Pam Emerson, children’s environmental health coordinator for the EPA’s region 10, which includes Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

”We know that exposure to diesel exhaust can cause lung damage, and can also increase the frequency and severity of asthma attacks,” Emerson said.

Court said La Pine’s system was purchased with a $200,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District was also awarded a FEMA grant to install an exhaust ventilation system, according to Ken Enoch, assistant fire chief. Enoch said the district has not yet accepted a bid for installation.

Bonita Johnson, office manager of the La Pine district’s station 101 is grateful. The fumes used to drift into her office.

”I feel like sending the government a thank you note,” she said. ”There have been several times I’ve been nauseated … and kind of shaky.”

But since the system was added, about two weeks ago, Johnson said she’s noticed a ”huge difference.”

Court said one of the reasons he applied for the grant was to meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations for air quality in the workplace, although OSHA does not explicitly require that every fire station contain a ventilation system like the one now in La Pine.

Steve Corson, spokesman for Oregon OSHA, said the organization regulates air contamination in general, but has no specific requirements regarding diesel fumes in fire stations.

”There have been no complaints with regards to the La Pine fire district … but generally, we look at it as a positive thing if they’ve installed a new system and they’re working on that issue,” Corson added.

Fire departments looking for exhaust removal systems have two general types to choose from: hoses or filters.

The Deschutes County Rural Fire Protection District No. 2 has had its system of exhaust filters in place since 1995, said Don Jenson, deputy chief of operations.

The computer-programmable ceramic filters are attached directly to the vehicles, Jenson said. When activated, the filters trap contaminates normally released in diesel exhaust.

Court said he chose the hose system because it required less maintenance than the filters, which have to be removed and cleaned at least once a year.

”With this system, once it’s up and running, and unless something breaks … there are zero maintenance costs,” he said.

Jenson said his district chose the filters because, unlike the hoses, they operate automatically. To function properly, the hoses have to be hooked up manually, before the trucks are backed into the station.

”Most of the departments we talked to, in fact 90 percent of them, said the guys were pretty good about hooking the hoses up for about … a year. But after a while, it got to be such a nuisance, they’d back the trucks all the way inside, turn them off and then hook them up to the system,” Jenson said.

According to Palmer, attaching a hose to a truck is just not that big a deal.

”We’d probably go a whole lot further, if we had to, to keep the exhaust out of here,” he said.

Lily Raff can be reached at 541-617-7836 or lraff@bendbulletin.com.