LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Federal Emergency Management Agency grant will help Anchorage Middletown Fire and EMS buy new equipment to help prevent cancer-causing particles from making firefighters ill.
The department received a $194,080 Assistance to Firefighters Grant, which will be used to install "MagneGrip" equipment at stations 2, 9 and 10. The equipment is attached to fire trucks to eliminate dangerous exhaust emissions from getting into the firehouse.
"It traps diesel particulates when they come out of the fire trucks when they first start and they expel them from the building," said Anchorage Middletown Division Chief Kevin Jump, who added that he remembers when the smell of smoke wasn't the only thing in the air at the firehouse.
"You could put your finger down the wall, and it would be dirty. It was from the diesel it was from the truck."
Those particles threaten firefighters' health long after they return from fighting fires.
"Currently, cancer in firefighters is the biggest cause of fatality in firefighters, and we want to do everything we can to prevent that from occurring," Jump said.
According to the International Association of Firefighters, cancer caused 61% of career firefighter deaths since 2002. It's a statistic Jump knows all too well.
Anchorage Middletown Fire Department. (WDRB file image)
"It hits hard, and it hits home," he said. "So we like to do whatever we can to prevent that from happening to our fellow firefighters."
That's why Anchorage Middletown Fire and EMS is working to improve the air for their firefighters.
"Starting the trucks in our fire house and pulling out did pose a risk to our employees, and we've been doing whatever we can to minimize those risks," Jump said.
The department hopes to have the equipment installed by the beginning of 2021.
"We're out here to serve the public, and we want to make sure while we're serving the public, we're not harming ourselves to do that service," Jump said.
Copyright 2020 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
