The
"We all know the dangers of fighting in buildings, being around the fire," said City Manager
The main thrust of the spending is toward three new pieces of equipment.
One of them is a washer-extractor, a washing machine that turns the drum at a higher rate to extract water, contaminants and cancer-causing carcinogens out of a firefighter's turnout gear. The city will also purchase a drying cabinet that allows for gear to be hung so warm air can circulate through the uniform, allowing for better drying. That process, according to
Cotten said this new equipment will help reduce the risk of cancers for fire staff. The department is taking additional steps at the scene of a fire to clean up prior to heading back to the station, but they're not counting on that entirely.
"There's no way we can get everything," he said.
The washing machine is
These new expenditures are not exclusive to the city fire department. Broadway Mayor
"It's not going to do away with the exposure, but it will help with the safety," Andrews said. "They're trying to come up with stuff that's safer. It's not going to eliminate it, but it's going to try to get as much protection as possible. They're exposed to some bad stuff when they're going into burning buildings and even car fires, all the carcinogenics and all the stuff they're exposed to."
Fire officials are also working to educate firefighters on proper clean-up. Cotten said it goes as far as changing the culture of the profession.
"We're having to change our whole thought process, the way we used to do business," he said. "Dirty track gear meant you were one of the elite, and that's no longer the case. That's one of the thought processes that we have to get out of the heads of our firefighters now, that clean gear is better than dirty gear."
For
"We're just trying to make sure our people have an active life after they leave the fire service," he said. "They can't do that a lot of times."
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