Derry Township Volunteer Fire Department gets new machine to clean personnel equipment

When fire crews come back from fighting a fire, their work is not done. It's time for cleanup, and in Derry Township, up until about 15 years ago, they used to have to clean things by hand. But now, because of a new machine, all that has changed.

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety, firefighters show higher rates of certain types of cancers than the general U.S. population. These included digestive, oral, respiratory and urinary cancers.

The good news is, however, experts have identified several prevention methods to help these brave men and women, and a big one is the thorough cleaning of all personnel equipment after a fire.

While the Derry Township Volunteer Fire Department has machines to clean things like their hoses and turnout gear, Thursday was their first test run of the Roto-Decon, a self-contained breathing apparatus extractor.

More simply put, this new machine is designed to clean not just fire equipment after it is used, but specifically the packs and respirators that firefighters wear when they are running into a burning building.

Scott Lasenby, the VP of new product development for Circul-Air Corp, a company that has been in the fire cleaning business since 1940, says that this new cleaning system works almost like a large, high-powered dishwasher, except with the Roto-Decon, there is a big difference.

"This gear is very robust," said Lasenby. "We attribute fire gear to going into high temperatures and lots of water, but it is also delicate, and you need to protect it. We want all that dirt and debris to fall down, so we don't want to spray [the water] back up. This gear has several holes and things we don't want water to go into, like battery packs. So, this machine was designed so that [the water] always falls down, which is a different overall design from your typical dishwasher."

Derry Township Fire Chief Mark Piantine says that this new addition to their station cost almost $29,000, but that it was paid for by a Local Share Account, or LSA, grant, that allocates state gaming revenue to townships and municipalities for just such a purpose.

Piantine also says that having this new tool in their department is simply a game-changer.

"Back in the day, when I was growing up, you didn't have all the chemicals you have in building furniture and houses and stuff," said Piantine. "Now, you come back from a fire, they are full of chemicals. 

"We are going out safer and we are making our people safer, that's the big thing. Taking care of the personnel we have, cause the volunteer fire service isn't getting any younger, we are all getting older," he added. 

Now there are only a handful of these machines that are online in the commonwealth right now, but more are coming to fire companies both locally and nationally.

For more information on the Roto-Decon, click here, and if you are a local fire company that is looking to purchase one of these machines, click here.