By Jane Moon Dail
The State
KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Firefighters already put their lives on the line when battling blazes, and now a Midlands fire department can help its firefighters stay safe after they put out the flames
Lugoff Fire-Rescue received a $20,800 grant from the Health Foundation of Kershaw County and used the funds to purchase a fire gear washer/extractor and drying cabinet, according to a news release from the department. The equipment, which cleans firefighting gear within a day, is now up and running at the department’s headquarters off U.S. 1 in Lugoff.
Lugoff Fire-Rescue Chief Dennis Ray said the equipment cleans cancer-causing carcinogens from firefighters’ protective gear.
“We are literally in the fight for our lives in the firefighting profession today battling our exposure to carcinogens during our firefighting operations,” Ray said. “We can do everything right and use all of our gear properly yet still be exposed to dangerous chemicals. It is the nature of our profession.”
A multi-year study headed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found firefighters have greater number of cancer diagnoses and deaths than the general U.S. population. The study also found firefighters are twice as likely to get malignant mesothelioma and the chances of lung cancer or death from leukemia increases with each fire run.
The study prompted the S.C. State Firefighters’ Association to survey firefighters around the state to create a cancer database.
The equipment is also available for other firefighters in the county.
“Having the in-house capability to thoroughly wash, decontaminate and dry our firefighting gear properly is a huge safety and health benefit to our members and members of other departments using our equipment,” Ray said.
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