GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland Fire Department is the first in the area to be able to decontaminate firefighters on the scene.

After extensive training, Guilderland used its decontamination unit for the first time on Saturday, Jan. 17, during a working structure fire at a local trailer park.

Concern has been growing in recent years about the increased risk of cancer for firefighters. This is because modern structures include plastics, foams, synthetic fabrics, and electronics all of which have microscopic carcinogens that settle on turnout gear and exposed skin and are absorbed through sweat-opened pores.

State Fire officials initially launched an outreach program in early 2020, which was placed on hold due to the pandemic. The decontamination kits were typically used back at a firehouse after fighting a fire.

But the concern then is that carcinogens are carried on the fire trucks, are in the fire house and in personal vehicles and even ambulances as well as potentially being carried into firefighters’ homes.

So the Guilderland department worked with Albany County to purchase a tent-like structure, transported in a trailer, that can be taken to the scene of a fire or accident and set up in minutes to decontaminate firefighters on the scene.

The unit is climate-controlled so that it can be used in any weather.

The Guilderland firefighters have demonstrated the equipment at other Guilderland departments and plan on extending their reach throughout the county as their expertise grows.

The decontamination unit can be used at the scene of a fire as well as at the scene of an accident where hazardous materials may have been spilled so that first responders as well as bystanders can be decontaminated.

Cancer

Two studies conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health show firefighters are diagnosed with cancer at a 9-percent higher rate than the general public and die from cancer at a 14-percent higher rate.

One of the studies, of nearly 30,000 career firefighters from Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco who were employed between 1950 and 2009, states, “There are approximately 1.1 million volunteer and career firefighters in the U.S. During firefighting activities, these workers may be exposed to many known carcinogens (eg, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), formaldehyde, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, asbestos and arsenic) in volatilised combustion and pyrolysis products or debris.”

According to information compiled by Sean O’Connor, Recruitment and Retention Officer for the Guilderland volunteers, the cancers with elevated risk among firefighters include: testicular cancer, which often affects young firefighters and has twice the risk for firefighters compared to the general population; prostate cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer among firefighters; bladder cancer; skin cancer; non-Hodgkin lymphoma, linked to benzene in smoke; multiple myeloma, tied to long-term chemical exposure; and brain and digestive cancers, likely related to inhalation and ingestion of carcinogens.