First responders use new tool to save LI man in fire

First responders were able to save a man's life in Dix Hills over the weekend using new medical technology that reverses some of the effects of smoke inhalation.
Paramedics administered a Cyanokit to a 70-year-old homeowner on Kenmore Street who was pulled from his burning house.
The Cyanokit is equipped with IV medicine, which enters the bloodstream and treats cyanide poisoning that comes from smoke inhalation.
The medical treatment is widely used among paramedics in France, but has so far been too costly to become commonplace in the U.S. Each single dose costs $850, and volunteers say that can be too much money for individual departments to handle.
Last year, fire departments in Dix Hills, Commack, East Northport and Greenlawn, along with Commack Ambulance, developed a mutual aid plan to split the cost of the treatment and the manpower so the treatment can be administered.
Authorities say the victim in the Dix Hills fire had a pulse and was trying to breathe on his own by the time they got to the hospital. He is listed in critical condition.
Suffolk police say they don't carry the Cyanokits because they train officers to be EMTs, and only paramedics can administer the drug. In Nassau, the kits are only in the cars of ambulance medical technician supervisors. They have not yet been used.