By John F. "Skip" Coleman, Technical Editor
Firefighting is a dirty job! We all would admit that. One of my earliest recollections of my father was the way he would smell when he came home from the fire station in the morning-that sweet smell of smoke on the extra set of clothes. I, too, gave that "pleasure" to my two children. They, too, know the sweet smoky smell of "working fire" perfume. That smoke also contained a lot of "stuff." We are finding more and more about what is produced in fires-most if not all of it is not good for the human body and has cumulative effects on the body.
Some departments are taking extra measures to lessen the effect of these toxic chemicals on the body. The Toledo (OH) Fire Department provided extractors to every station. To my knowledge, there is no "mandatory" requirement for their use, but they are there.
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