Unpopular Opinions In the Fire Service

[u/Launch_Rockface]

I am curious what other peoples unpopular opinions of the fire service are? I know there are alot of things we are doing or trying to do to improve the fire service as far as training and wellness, but I also know alot of it is just not that great in my opinion.

[u/Direct-Training9217]

I agree with everything you say (your job is to train the rookie, his job is to work hard), except....

My unpopular opinion is that PFAS in gear is overblown. There aren't a ton of studies on it and the big ones study PFAS in drinking water. Those aren't super conclusive and obviously drinking water is way more direct and way more frequent exposure. Honestly sleep deprivation and being out of shape probably cause more cancer than the PFAS. Obviously don't wear your gear 24/7 but putting on bunker pants for an EMS call or working out in gear is not as big a deal (imo) as people make it. I workout in gear once a tour, because I think that being comfortable and cardiovascularly prepared is worth the trade off

[u/Strict-Canary-4175 → u/Direct-Training9217]

“Being out of shape and Sleep deprivation causes more cancer” No it doesn’t. For a few reasons.

The first one is because sleep deprivation doesn’t cause cancer. Secondly, because yeah. It’s the gear. There definitely are studies on it, but let’s say all of the data was just things we can observe.

If it’s not the gear why do firemen get cancer at such an elevated rate? Why is a majority of the cancer we get inside where our bunker pants are (bladder, prostate, colon, uterine)? And we wear those more often than the rest of our gear? Seems like maybe it’s the gear.

And if it’s the sleep deprivation and being out of shape, why isn’t cancer effecting fat guys who work a ton of overtime more often? It doesn’t. So it seems like that’s not the problem. Matter of fact; I was eating so clean it was almost an ED and running ultra marathons when I got diagnosed with cancer. So I don’t think it was that I was fat and sleepy.

I also had to have pretty extensive genetic testing done when I had cancer because I was abandoned at birth so I have no family history. In which they found that my cancer was occupational. From the PFAS in the gear.

If you want to work out in gear, go ahead. Save that money and that time though because your city isn’t going to go out of their way for you. Good luck big dog

[u/not-ur-usual-thought → u/Strict-Canary-4175]

I am sorry for you. I hope you get rid of it!

Can you explain for a foreign colleague:

Are the problems caused because of PFAS in the production materials of the fire gear? Or because the fire gear is not properly cleaned after use?

[u/Strict-Canary-4175 → u/not-ur-usual-thought]

It’s in the material. Specifically a layer of the gear (made by 3m) that has to pass the UV light degradation test. The only substance that can pass the test for 40 hours is PFAs. The test is unnecessary, and thus the material is also unnecessary but the NFPA won’t remove it from the standard that requires it.

[u/not-ur-usual-thought → u/Strict-Canary-4175]

Thank you for clarifying.