Beginning in the Spring of this year, the Turnout Gear Committee and the Safety Officer began to research ways to better protect our members from cancer causing carcinogens that we are faced with while responding to fires.

With that, the Turnout Gear committee obtained several hoods that are now particulate blocking hoods. The committee wear tested the hoods to ensure no protection from heat was going to be lost with the hoods from what we have now; basically to ensure that the new hoods could only improve our protection. The hoods were worn on several incidents and were evaluated for protection results. The department determined that the LifeLiners KL200 hood would best meet the needs of our department and the committee pursued the departments approval to purchase the hoods.

At the July business meeting the department approved the purchase of (60) KL200 hoods. The committee purchased the hoods and they were delivered in August. The committee issued one hood to wear to every riding member of the department. This hood will become the standard hood for the department now that all members are equipped with them.

The next item that was evaluated were Firefighter decontamination wipes for use after fire incidents. The Safety Officer headed up this project. Several different wipes were evaluated and compared. The thought for these wipes is to wipe down the common areas on your body (face, head, neck, armpits) that sweats excessively. After being exposed to carcinogens the wipes will help to aid in the prevention of the carcinogens from getting transferred into your skin through absorption.

The safety officer made his evaluation and recommendation to the Line Officers of the department and the decision was made to purchase "Fire Wipes." A large purchase of the wipes were made and a storage box of wipes was placed on all the apparatus.

Cancer is an ever-evolving issue within the fire service, and many firemen have fallen ill and/or lost their lives due to firefighting related cancers. The Mechanicsville Volunteers are actively pursuing ways to aid in the prevention of cancer for our members.