Man Dies while filling Paintball Marker with Air

[weedave]

(I dont know if this has been posted already, i only read it a few minutes ago)

Explosion claims life of firefighter

Leader of dive team dies in compressed air blast
Wednesday, November 13, 2002

By Chuck Petruccione
© 2002 Republican-American


THOMASTON — A dedicated firefighter and the leader of the town's heralded dive team died Monday in an explosion while filling a paintball gun.

According to police, Ralph Sanzeri Jr., 31, was killed when a compressed air container exploded just before 12:30 p.m. at Sanzeri's Locks Bait & Tackle, his South Main Street business.

Ralph Sanzeri Sr., who co-owned the business with his son, said he had filled hundreds of compressed air containers before without any problems. However, Ralph Jr. was using a new piece of equipment Monday.

An investigation is being conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but it was unclear Tuesday what went wrong. The Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner has ruled Sanzeri's death an accident, pinpointing multiple

blunt traumatic injuries as the cause.

A 10-year veteran of the Thomaston Volunteer Fire Department, Sanzeri Jr. was remembered by friends and family Tuesday as a loving husband, an outdoorsman and the heart and soul of the area's most prestigious underwater recovery unit.

"He was an all-American kid," said Dave LaBonte, a friend of the family and Sanzeri's Little League baseball coach. "He was the kind of kid you wanted to have in your neighborhood."

LaBonte visited the family's home on Grand Street Tuesday night and offered Ralph Jr.'s parents a hug. After the two embraced, the Sanzeri family recalled their son's life.

A lifelong Thomaston resident, Ralph Jr. was an avid camper and fisherman. His father took him out to various lakes to teach him how to fish. Eventually, his love for the outdoors and the water led him to follow in his father's footsteps and become an accomplished diver. Just five years after Sanzeri Sr. started Thomaston's dive team in 1982, his son became certified and joined the group.

For the past five years, Sanzeri Jr. was in charge of the unit. In addition to researching techniques used by other squads, Sanzeri kept up to date with the latest technology. Just a few months ago, he and his father donated a $600 underwater camera that will aid in search and rescue missions.

Jamie Wilson, an assistant chief in the department, said Sanzeri's dedication was so great, he would bring people to his house and teach them how to work underwater in his own pool.

Helen Sanzeri said her son learned his concern for the community from his father, who has served on both the police and fire departments in town. She said she was proud Ralph Jr. was following in his footsteps.

LaBonte said he could always count on Sanzeri for anything, whether it was fixing a flat tire or showing up to save a burning building. "If there were more people like him, the world would be a better place to live in," LaBonte said.

Sanzeri is survived by his parents, his wife of eight years Brenda and his brother Russ. Memorial services have not been planned yet.

"I've known him ever since he was in the department," said Hank McGee, fire chief. "He was a great firefighter. He's going to be greatly missed in town."

 

[Billy No Mates]

foook me!

thats a bit harsh.
Be interesting to find out more technical info. (not that im being cold hearted) but all it says is he was filling a paintball air cylinder with a new peice of equipment. which is about as vague as one of Joe Bob's questions.

dodgy cylinder? dodgy equipment?
The fact is, its a diving business filling a paintball cylinder, this could have serious repucutions.
Governments have been waiting for this to happen for a while, now it has, what are they going to do?

 

[pupster01]

this could also be bad wording and should have read land use dive tank. Only an idea please dont feel its necessary to start flaming. but it just sounds odd someone going to a dive shop to have these gun filled

 

[confuzzed2]

This just goes to show that people need to exercise caution when dealing with compressed air. Not to say that this individual has done anything wrong, but to show that we are dealing with something dangerous. We sometimes see someone chuck their kit half way across the field and forget that there could be up to 5000 psi in that container. If the tank and reg were to separate from that scenario and under that pressure, well basically youve got a missile that isn’t going to stop when it hits something. Ive seen a c02 tank separate from its valve (never to be seen again), and had an extremely close call with 3000 psi to the face. Dealing with compressed air is serious business and we all need to remember that.

My condolences to the individuals family and friends.

 

[JoseDominguez]

I once vented one of those tiny brass Co2 powerlets when it fell out of a speedloader-fortunately it was a scenario game and the player it hit was wearing a kevlar helmet as a prop------ six years later and he still won't go near a fill station, car tyre inflator or soda-stream. He's terrified of anything with compressed gas in it.

 

[Robinator]

i heard that...

something in the nipple region exloded under the pressure and sme bll bearings were fired into the poor chaps neck! (ouch)
my condolonces also.

 

[How]

Compressed air is very dangerous but...

I hate to alarm you CO2 users but it is farmore dangerous than compressed air!

 

[cowface]

how come? ive known Co2 to be much safer.

Ive known several cases when ive heard something go boom, or nearly boom with Air, and only 1 case with Co2.

 

[Liz]

CO2 is much more likely to kill you! You can get nice little bubbles of it in your blood stream which go to the brain or the heart & stop everything working, you can pass out & die of oxygen starvation in enclosed spaces. And as it chills down so fast, if you fill without gloves & the bottle freezes down in a hurry they may have to take all the skin & flesh off your hands to remove it.

Nasty, nasty stuff if something goes wrong, just ask anyone who's done the UKPSF marshalls course!

 

[JoseDominguez]

You can get the same effect with air bubbles too, after all the "bends" is just nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream caused by coming up too quick and preventing them from dissolving (and air is mainly nitrogen) , but compressed air is a lot more likely to kill you than co2 as it's at a far greater pressure..... if you get air bubbles in you bloodstream from a 4500 psi bottle then you're already dead as it's blown a hole in you. If a co2 tank fails then someone could be very badly hurt, if an air tank fails then it'll be quicker to wallpaper over you than to pick up the bits.

He's a little ray of sunshine isn't he.