Firefighters

Firefighters cycled through different stations to practice their skills. Stations included medical triage, a simulated fuselage, a real fire, and smashed vehicles for practicing extrication.

This week, the House and Senate passed a bill that says come January 1, 2027, no firefighting turnout gear can be sold if it’s made with “intentionally added” PFAS.

Some local police have trouble affording a home on Cape Cod, which makes hiring officers more difficult and can affect emergency response times. We learn more about the problem and what communities are doing in the conclusion to a two-part series.

Gabriella Parker, an Orleans firefighter and paramedic, talks about the difficulty first responders face trying to find housing on the Cape and Islands. And local fire chiefs say the cost of housing makes staffing a challenge. Part 1 of a two-part series.

The Barnstable Fire Department is about to turn 90. And it's running out of room to accommodate staff and fire trucks.

Eryn Meinhardt-Donohue, a state wildland firefighter who works in Sandwich, tells CAI about her recent two-week deployment to help fight the wildfires that have been burning in Canada.

The International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) is suing the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a Quincy-based group that guides national standards for firefighters’ protective gear, alleging that the NFPA is colluding with gear manufacturers and profiting from the standards that effectively require PFAS to be included in firefighters’ protective suits.

Firefighters from Fall River, Hyannis, and Nantucket are participating in a study to see whether PFAS chemicals are working their way from firefighters’ gear into their bodies. The results could eventually help lead to the standardization of protective apparel that’s made with less – or even zero – PFAS.

PFAS have been linked to kidney, testicular, prostate, breast, liver, and ovarian cancers, among other diseases. Studies show firefighters generally have higher levels of PFAS in their blood than the general public.

"My Dad — back in the day of a pager, his pager went off," said Tom Kenney's daughter, Meaghann. "You have to be ready to go. So he jumped in his truck, left Town Hall, went home, said goodbye to my mother, and off he went.”