What's Hiding in Our Bunker Gear!?!

Sadly, the word, “cancer,” is all too common in today’s fire service. Sure, we have made some bold strides in both educating our members and providing tools and funding in many cases, to mitigate our exposure to carcinogenic compounds. However, there was one place we never thought to look for it, if it were not for a former Worcester MA firefighter and his wife. That location? The very bunker gear we wear to protect us from this crap!

“Miss D” sent a letter to a nuclear scientist at Notre Dame University with a piece of her husband’s bunker gear. The researcher is our guest, Dr. Graham Peaslee. Using the equipment in his lab, he first tested these pieces and found the presence of certain, unhealthy compounds. He then went on to test multiple samples of gear from still-in-the-bag new sets, to gear dating back to the 1970’s. ALL CONTAINED THESE COMPOUNDS.

Even though Dr. Peaslee states there are several more years of testing to come, there is a lot to learn from our discussion on this podcast. And if there is one thing that firefighters like, it is to always be open to learning something new about our craft!

Tune in on your favorite podcast platform or at http://Bit.ly/DalmatWeb

Photo (C)ISU.edu