Identification of Soils on Firefighter Turnout Gear from the Philadelphia Fire Department

The purpose of this research was to identify the composition of soils on firefighter turnout gear from the Philadelphia Fire Department and to determine which soils contain hazardous materials. The objective of the research was to identify the composition of soils remaining on the firefighter turnout gear to enable the industry to design an effective cleaning procedure for removal of soils. A pilot study was conducted on hoods from the Philadelphia fire department to evaluate the test methods that would be used to identify the composition of soils. Soils that had been identified from previous studies were targeted in the analysis of the extraction of the samples removed from the hoods. Samples were removed from areas of the coats and pants where dermal absorption is reported as high areas of skin absorption, including areas in the neck, armpit, crotch and wrist locations

Risk assessment of soils identified on firefighter turnout gear

<p>The purpose of this research was to identify the composition of soils on firefighter turnout gear and to determine the dermal exposure risks associated with the soils. Nine used Nomex hoods from the Philadelphia fire department were analyzed for the presence of trace metals and seven sets of used turnout gear were analyzed for semi-volatile organics. Turnout gear samples were removed from areas of the gear known to have high levels of dermal absorption including the collar, armpit, wrist, and crotch areas, from either the outer shell or thermal liner layers. The following compounds were detected: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate plasticizers, and polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants (PBDEs). A screening risk assessment was conducted by converting the measured concentrations to an estimated dermally absorbed dose based on estimates for the permeation coefficient (Kp) and an assumed firefighting exposure scenario. Benzo(a) pyrene had the highest dermal exposure risk based on carcinogenic effects and PBDE-99 had the highest dermal exposure risk based on non-carcinogenic effects. For the metals, arsenic had the highest dermal exposure risk for the use hoods.</p