ATHOL — Fire Chief Joseph Guarnera needs a new washer and a new dryer, but not just any washer/dryer combo will do. The units needed by the fire department are made specifically to remove carcinogens and other hazardous materials from the gear worn by firefighters.
“Firefighters respond to anything,” said Guarnera. “They respond to hazardous materials; they respond to fires. What’s in a dumpster that’s on fire? You don’t know, you have no idea. So, you have no idea what kind of toxic chemicals or harmful agents are coming out in that smoke.”
“A motor vehicle fire isn’t the same today as it was just a few decades ago,” he continued. “Everything is made out of plastic, very highly combustible metals, all giving off carcinogens.”
Guarnera said smoke from a common house fire contains “everything from arsenic to formaldehyde, hydrogen sulfide, cyanide.”
“So, when that’s all in the air when a firefighter goes in, where does it all go?” asked Guarnera. “It’s landing on his gear. When you smell that smoke, you’re smelling cancer — in every way, shape and form.”
“Studies show,” he continued, “that firefighters have about a 310 percent higher risk of contracting cancer than anybody in the general public or any other type of work. The only way we can fight that is through some type of prevention. Heart attack accounts for about 16 percent of firefighter deaths. Line of duty deaths that occur in the fire service are linked to cancer about 60 percent of the time. That’s huge.”
Guarnera produced statistics indicating that brain, prostate, esophageal, testicular, and brain cancer — among other cancers — are higher for firefighters than the public at large.
“A lot of departments have two sets of gear,” said the chief, “so when one’s dirty, you clean the other one. But you can’t just put the gear into a washing machine — it doesn’t work.”
“So, they have this washer that’s called an extractor washer. The way it washes, the way it tumbles, and the speed that it uses, it actually extracts those carcinogenic particulates so that your gear is actually clean and the carcinogens are gone.”
“What we’ve been doing, when we can,” Guarnera continued, “is going to other departments locally to wash our gear there. But the gear should be washed after every fire, after every exposure to hazardous material. The problem with having one set of gear is, if we wash it, is it going to be dry in time?”
Guarnera said it can take two or three days for the gear to “hang dry,” while the dryer sought by the department can do the job in a couple of hours.
The price of the units, according to the chief, is around $7,000 for a “baseline” washer and between $8,000 and $10,000 for the dryer. In the absence of municipal funds and grant monies, which Guarnera has applied for, efforts are being made to raise funds in the community.
Thus far, local businesses that have contributed to the effort include Hometown Bank, Worker’s Credit Union, and Kimball-Cooke Insurance.
Guarnera said, ideally, the department should also secure a second set of gear for its firefighters.
“On the same token,” he added, “you still have to clean that second set of gear. A set of gear costs about $2,500 per person. And that gear would be good for 10 years.”
“I’ll do my best to get my members another set of gear at some point, but right now I just want them to be able to wash what they have,” Guarnera concluded.
Anyone interested in making a donation toward the purchase of the washer/dryer can send it to Chief Guarnera, Athol Fire Dept., 2251 Main St., Athol 01331.