JERUSALEM — Need a gas mask? Gas protection suit? Portable chemical toilet? Fire Center Ltd. has it all, and for just $220, you can have the suit and mask.
Located in Netanya, Fire Center Ltd. opened several years ago to offer fire safety services. Since Sept. 11, it has run large advertisements in local newspapers.
“Emergency!!!” reads the red-and-yellow ad, printed against the background of a raging fire. “Gas Masks + Filters – Gas Protection Suits – Safety Equipment For Shelters.” And more.
Privately-owned, Fire Center supplies shelters with glow-in-the-dark safety signs, portable chemical toilets, water containers, first-aid kits and fire extinguishers. But before it became a sealed room-servicing firm, it provided construction companies with gas masks and filters, as well as fire fighting and detection systems.
Originally the gas masks were “meant for industrial use, for people who work closely with chemical substances,” explained Mickey Malkin, marketing manager for Fire Center. “Not for civilians in sealed rooms.”
The average mask and filter together cost $158, while a suit ranges in price from $63 to $163 and boots and gloves can cost another $5 to $50. The chemical toilet, which is generally used for campsites but is now being sold for sealed rooms, is priced at $163.
Besides fielding demand from non-Israeli residents and tourists who don’t receive mask kits from the government, the company is also receiving calls from local residents on behalf of their friends and relatives overseas, said Malkin.
He added that the company has been trying to keep up with the extra demand. “People are panicking overseas because they’re not used to this sort of thing,” he said. “Here people are more prepared.”
Fire Center works with two companies in Europe that manufacture gas masks and suits, and currently has only a couple of hundred masks, suits, and toilets — the most popular items — left in stock. Fire Center doesn’t work with Shalon Chemical Industries Ltd., the only Israeli company that produces gas mask systems.
Shalon couldn’t comment on the number of masks it is currently producing, but did say it had been fielding phone calls from the United States and Europe. Founded in 1967, the privately-owned factory is based in Kiryat Gat and develops and manufactures mask systems for civilians and military against nuclear, biological and chemical warfare.
While some 60,000 mask kits have been distributed since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Israel Defense Force Spokesman’s Office said that is not an outrageously high number.
In the last few weeks, five new distribution stations opened, bringing the total number throughout the country to 28. The average kit demand prior to the terror attacks was 1,500 to 3,000 per day. Demand grew to 7,000 the day after the attacks and leveling off at some 20,000 by early October.
The masks come in four different sizes for infants, children, teenagers and adults. Fitted for the face, each mask has filters to facilitate breathing in the event of a chemical or biological attack. Each kit also comes with instructions in Hebrew, English, Russian and Arabic, as well as medication in case of chemical injuries to the body.
Israel’s office of Home Front Command handles the kits’ processing for Shalon.
“Right now, we’re changing filters, checking the rubber and cleaning the masks to make sure they’re in working order,” said an IDF spokesman. “We’re not in a state of emergency, but people can call the toll-free number if they have any questions.”
For now, the gas masks are being handed out to all citizens. Non-Israelis, such as tourists and foreign workers, are charged $50 for a mask, but the army won’t insist on the payment in every case, said the spokesman.
Israelis have been preparing their masks, but haven’t begun buying bulk bottled water, or plastic sheeting and duct tape to secure windows. Many new apartments are outfitted with a ready-made sealed room.