CENTERBURG — Centerburg’s Central Joint Ohio Fire District received a $75,000 federal grant for a new exhaust removal system at the fire station.
The federal grant is an 80/20 split, meaning the fire district will pay 20% of the grant costs, while the feds will cover the rest.
The exhaust system hooks up to the fire engines exhaust outputs in the station, collecting harmful fumes and transferring it outside.
The contaminated air leads to a greater likelihood of firefighters getting cancer, which is the leading cause of death for service members.
Cancer caused 66% of the career firefighter line-of-duty deaths from 2002 to 2019, according to data from the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF.) Heart disease caused 18% of career line-of-duty for the same period, according to the same data.
Firefighters also have a 9% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer than the general U.S. population, according to research by the Center for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH).
NIOSH also noted firefighters are exposed to contaminants that cross-contaminate everything it comes in contact with.
Recently, COJFD won a grain safety award from Nationwide Insurance. The award will secure the fire station a grain safety tube and training in case they’re called to a grain silo rescue call.
Centerburg Fire Chief Mark McCann believes the grant funds should be released “sometime this year,” he said.
An exhaust tube for each bay costs around $13,000, McCann said, with the fire station having four bays in total.
This’ll be able to protect COJFD firefighters in a non-emergency environment, the fire chief said.
“We have a cancer risk on the job regardless of what goes on,” McCann said. “Cancer is always hurting us so it’s just one way of risk analysis/reduction.
“It takes a lot of people to write these grants. We’re very proud.”
