State Committee hears about Toxic Threat to Firefighters
AUSTIN, Texas - Turnout gear worn by firefighters, also known as bunker gear, typically gets covered with ash and debris during a fire fight.
After years of exposure safety advocates warn, dirty gear can pose a threat just as deadly as a flame.
"I can tell you that there's about 63% cancer rate in the fire service today,” said John Riddle, with the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters.
Riddle was among those to testify Monday before the Texas House Urban Affairs Committee.
"Cancer is an unseen risk, I mean you don’t know it until you've got it. So anything we can do to prevent that risk, we need to do it,” said Riddle.
Fire departments in Texas are required to clean gear. A new rule is now requiring a yearly report about how the cleaning is part of Standard Operational Procedures to the state Commission on Fire Protection. The Commission is also required to do annual inspections. Committee Chair Carol Alvarado (D) Houston wants to know if more should be done.
"So its holding them accountable to make sure they are doing everything they can, and they have the resources they need, to stay on top of all of the departments and to make those annual inspections,” said Alvarado.
Alvarado suggested a pilot program underway by the Austin Fire Department may be a state model. AFD Division Chief Thayer Smith testified about the program.
"We give them loaner gear out of our loaner stock,” said Smith.
According to Thayer, a special unit delivers clean gear to every fire scene.
FOX-7 AUSTIN profiled the program in July. Dirty items are bagged. Ten put into industrial washers before being returned to fire crews.
"It’s working great, but sustainable long run we will probably need more funding and more personnel ourselves to make it work like we want it to work in the future,” said Division Chief Smith.
Samuel Pena, Houston’s fire chief, testified how private donations have helped purchase 30 advanced washers for his department. They are called Extractors. The goal is to eventually have units in every Houston fire station, but Chief Pena admits smaller departments across Texas may need help.
"If there are opportunities to make grants available for fire departments to be able to acquire some of this specialize equipment we should focus on that,” said Chief Pena.
Funding new health and safety programs for fire fighters is expected to be pretty difficult when state lawmakers return to Austin in January. At best it may simply involve moving some money out of one pot and into another.
One possibility for lawmakers is to tap into fees that Texas firefighters pay to the state Commission on Fire Protection. Committee members were told there's about $1.5 million in fees that currently roll into the general fund budget.
"If we could take that money, provide grant assistance, or however they do it, to assist our departments, with providing the equipment necessary to clean the gear, then that will go a long way to protecting our firefighters,” said Riddle.
Some of the fire officials, who testified during the hearing, also spoke out against caps on tax increases. Limiting how taxing entities can raise revenue, without a public vote, was a big issue during the previous legislative session and expected to be a hot topic in January.
The committee was told the limits will make it difficult for departments to go beyond just getting by with state rules.