Over the past several years, the Boston (MA) Fire Department (BFD) has made significant changes to its policies as it relates to bunker gear. These changes have encompassed all facets of our relationship with bunker gear. We began by educating the membership regarding their bunker gear, its importance, and its proper maintenance. We created and executed a plan to ensure all of our membership had two sets of compliant gear. We also partnered with an ISP to provide cleaning and inspection services. The department changed its cleaning policy and required all members who worked at a fire to have their gear sent into the ISP for cleaning. While having the ISP clean gear was an improvement, the department felt that providing a washer in the firehouse to clean bunker gear would be more convenient for the membership. We were fortunate to partner with the Last Call Foundation and the Gary Sinise Foundation to outfit all of our firehouses with industrial washers. We are currently in the process of installing drying cabinets to speed the cleaning process.
This is one facet of our approach to reducing and controlling carcinogenic contamination. We also have worked to improve our process in selecting bunker gear. We created policy and process to fully evaluate all of the many composites available. We also have sought through research and development to create bunker gear that more fully protects the membership from particulate contamination. As of today, all of our new bunker gear will have particulate barriers that we developed to significantly reduce the number of particulates the membership is exposed to.
While these are important steps, there is still much left to be done. We are currently working through issues such as postincident decontamination and firehouse decontamination. These issues are constantly evolving as our knowledge increases, and we will continue to implement changes to make the members of the Boston Fire Department as safe as possible in a job that is anything but.
Edward A. McCarthy
Logistics Manager
Boston (MA) Fire Department
