NYS providing decontamination kits to fire departments

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- January is Firefighter Cancer Prevention Month, and New York state is providing training and decontamination kits to fire departments across the state. Officials are hoping to decrease exposure for deadly diseases with the decontamination kits.

Firefighters will rinse off in their gear, then get scrubbed with soap and water before being rinsed again. All equipment will be isolated and taken back to the fire station for further cleaning. This will remove 85 percent of the contaminants, according to the state.

"The things that are in our homes are changing that in the past used to be natural products -- cotton or wood based," NYS Fire Administrator James Cable said. "Increasingly, they're now being replaced with plastics and synthetic materials. When those products burn, they're chemicals, and they give off more chemicals in smoke."

Cancer is now the leading cause of death among firefighters, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York officials plan to provide the training sessions and decontamination kits to every department across the state.