The City of Shelbyville is committing nearly $230,000 to protect its firefighters.

At Monday’s Common Council meeting at City Hall, the council approved moving money previously assigned to a west side infrastructure project to the fire department to purchase 63 sets of new turnout gear.

The goal is to get all Shelbyville firefighters out of turnout gear that could potentially lead to cancer diagnoses.

“It started being a big topic in the fall of 2022. There was a lot of discussion up at the Statehouse this year,” said Shelbyville Fire Chief Brian Tackett. “It’s a chemical agent called PFAS. It’s used in fire gear for flame retardation, water repellency and several different items. What they are finding out is that PFAS is in every layer of fire gear, which there are three layers of fire gear.

“Once that starts degrading over time of being in fires, it can be absorbed through your skin and gets into your blood stream and is causing cancer issues.”

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances also known as ‘forever chemicals,’ is nearly impossible to destroy.

“Cancer is the No. 1 death of firefighters right now,” said Tackett. “There is a big push right now to make fire gear PFAS zero.”

Morning Pride is the current supplier of turnout gear for the Shelbyville Fire Department and the company is currently providing equipment with PFAS in just one of the three layers.

“They haven’t figured out how to get that layer to pass NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) standards just yet,” said Tackett. “That is certainly better than being in all three layers.”

The goal is to have all three layers PFAS zero by 2025, according to Tackett. The problem is not limited to Morning Pride’s gear but rather the industry-wide use of PFAS.

Once learning of the potential hazards of the turnout gear, the fire department implemented plans to limit exposure.

“We’ve done a good job getting those guys out of their gear as soon as possible,” said Tackett. “If we have a fire and they are in a hot zone, they are to get out of it, wash their gear and get into a new set. As soon as the frontline set is clean, they get back in their gear.

“They don’t work out in their gear any more. They don’t wear it around the stations anymore.”

Each Shelbyville firefighter has two sets of turnout gear so a backup is readily available. The jackets can be separated into three separate layers then washed and dried for use again.

“You are supposed to replace a set every 10 years,” said Tackett.

The department budgets annually to replace 10 sets per year, according to Tackett. The budget could not handle the expense of purchasing 63 new sets at approximately $3,500 per set so the city stepped up.

A total of $500,000 was set aside for infrastructure work on a potential gas station at the intersection of Miller Avenue and State Road 44. That project did not come to fruition so the city will use nearly half of that funding to provide safer turnout gear for each firefighter.

“We will start over with everyone getting a new set this year then we will continue our replacement of 10 sets a year so everybody will have two sets of the safest gear possible.”

The department is going through gear fitting this week and expects to have the new gear in approximately three months.

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