mack said:
Boston issues clean disposable towel to each FF to immediately wipe away soot after working at fire.
manlt said:
More to this than just the RAC. Jardin is helping to spearhead the cancer prevention. A lot of input from MO. Going to become mandatory to go to RAC/Medical unit at all hands. Each 5 degree increase in body temperature increases absorption by 400 percent. Also higher temps and cardiac events. It?s about members health.
I remember watching a video and a few Boston Firefighters and family members were talking about cancer as it affects firefighters.
Most firefighters love what they are doing - that of fighting fires. They know the risks involved. But I'm sure most had no idea of some 400 % increase risk of getting cancer. And as I see it, if that fact comes from the FDNY, "I take it as the Real Deal". In fact, I have passed that info around to many firefighters that I know and they could NOT believe that themselves.
I also passed around the idea of those disposable towels as used in Boston now. I think a lot of places might take that idea up too. If a couple of cheap disposable towels can help prevent a few guys from getting cancer, then "why not" ?
I remember when both my brother and myself had been issued bunker gear. We hated it. We remember when wearing air packs became mandatory. Why, we didn't have to use them before. Or when they made us wear those hoods. How would we tell how hot it is in there ? The firefighters of today may later wish that the FDNY had added an additional RAC unit or had disposable towels to use to wipe off the soot from their face and gear years earlier.
But then we heard that the FDNY was getting bunker gear and that was after a serious fire on Watts St that had taken the lives of THREE FDNY members of Ladder 5 who had been badly burned. The FDNY looked into it and realized that this gear was needed to be worn by the members of the department.
Later of course my brother and I, as well as the members of the FDNY probably realized, "it was just something that needed to be done".
So with these new FDNY policies, once again as we so often see, the FDNY takes the lead in trying to do what's best for it's members and their families.
This is that video from Boston that I never forgot. If this new policy helps prevent this from happening, I say as an "outsider", Give It a Shot.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOvBypsaHog