The Boston Globe reports that the grieving mother of deceased firefighter Michael Kennedy, who perished in a Back Bay inferno earlier this year, urged city councilors Monday to support a simple method she said would curb cancer in the Boston Fire Department:
Equip each firehouse with a commercial washing machine.
Kathy Crosby-Bell said a washing machine at each of the city’s 34 firehouses would allow firefighters to quickly clean their gear after a blaze and remove dangerous carcinogens stuck to clothing, curbing the risk of getting the disease.
Currently, firefighters bag their gear and send it to headquarters for periodic cleaning, a process Crosby-Bell calls “cumbersome, inadequate, and outdated.” A machine in every firehouse would mean firefighters can clean their gear every week, Crosby-Bell and fire authorities said.
“This major health threat deserves urgent action on all our parts,” Crosby-Bell said at the hearing.
The washing machines were part of Crosby-Bell’s wider appeal to the council on behalf of the Last Call Foundation, an effort she launched in September to advance firefighter safety after the deaths of her son and Lieutenant Edward Walsh, who were trapped inside the blazing basement of a Back Bay brownstone March 26.
Crosby-Bell said her grief, anger, and feelings of hopelessness are helping drive a mission for further protection for firefighters through education, research, and fund-raising. Her foundation has raised nearly $300,000, she said.
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