It’s a relevant science story to HN and I share because it’s directly affected my friend who is a firefighter on Nantucket. This stuff needs more attention.
I can't read the article because of the paywall, but I can say that this has been a known issue for a while. The NFPA has been recommending that firefighters turnout gear and other equipment be cleaned / decontaminated regularly for some time. I believe this advice was circulating back when I was still a firefighter, some 20 years ago. But it was the case then, and is probably still the case now, that many departments - especially smaller, all-volunteer departments in rural areas - don't have the resources to do this. For starters, if you're going to wash a set of turnout gear, then the firefighter in question needs another clean set to use in the interim, so you're roughly doubling the number of sets of gear you need. And there are departments that barely have enough gear to provide each member with one set, much less two.
And you need laundry facilities which aren't always present in fire stations. And a generic Kenmore washer from Sears probably won't hold up very long washing turnout gear due to the size and weight - you really need a proper (read, expensive) industrial washer.
All in all, it's a problem that still needs attention from what I can see. And cancer rates for firefighters still run disproportionately high relative to the general population. Gear soaked in various contaminants is likely a factor in that. :-(
The article says the gear is laced in teflon¹, which is making the firefighters sick. I don't know whose bright idea was it (fire + teflon = very good combination), but I imagine they use heavier doses than typical outdoor gear, where it's also an issue and being phased-out/banned (in EU, no idea about US).
Not sure how much cancer is from the PFAS, but it seems believable it could be a significant factor. Washing should help, poison waters, but IMO it shouldn't be there in the first place.
¹ not teflon, PFAS, but it's pretty much the same thing, including it's not-yet-banned replacements
Interesting. I wasn't aware of the PFAS aspect. I'll look for a workaround to read the full article later. Most of the obvious approaches are blocked from my work machine.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 17.2 ms ] threadhttps://youtu.be/s4lGGMdF8Ds
And you need laundry facilities which aren't always present in fire stations. And a generic Kenmore washer from Sears probably won't hold up very long washing turnout gear due to the size and weight - you really need a proper (read, expensive) industrial washer.
All in all, it's a problem that still needs attention from what I can see. And cancer rates for firefighters still run disproportionately high relative to the general population. Gear soaked in various contaminants is likely a factor in that. :-(
Not sure how much cancer is from the PFAS, but it seems believable it could be a significant factor. Washing should help, poison waters, but IMO it shouldn't be there in the first place.
¹ not teflon, PFAS, but it's pretty much the same thing, including it's not-yet-banned replacements