Montreal fire department cuts back on gear containing ‘forever chemicals’

The Montreal fire department is taking steps to replace pieces of protective clothing shown to have high levels of potentially hazardous “forever chemicals.”

An analysis carried out for Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquête by a team at Université de Montréal revealed that some of the equipment worn by firefighters contain high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Certain pants were found to contain up to 560 parts per billion of PFAS, more than 20 times the standard proposed by the European Union for textile products. Canada has not yet adopted an equivalent set of standards.

The fire department is immediately suspending the purchase of the pants while it conducts its own analysis, said a spokesperson for the fire department, Guy Lapointe.

The fire department is also moving to quickly replace other personal protective equipment.

The Enquête report, broadcast in mid-November, uncovered extremely high levels of PFAS in two pairs of pants and a coat worn by firefighters, with some samples reaching several thousand, and sometimes tens of thousands, of parts per billion of PFAS.

According to Lapointe, the fire department has set aside money for 477 protective suits, known as bunker gear. Two hundred are on order and will be delivered in 2024, and a further 277 will be delivered in early 2025, depending on supplier capacity, he said.

This means that almost 20 per cent of Montreal’s 2,400 firefighters will soon have access to a new set of protective equipment in which only one of the three protective layers contains PFAS.

Union president Chris Ross welcomed the move but said it represented “no more than a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.”

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the department has trouble providing enough backup gear, when firefighters go out on successive calls.

The union says that, as a result, teams are sometimes understaffed. The Montreal fire department, for its part, insists the situation has had no major impact on services.

WATCH | Quebec will recognize more cancers linked to firefighting: 

The province is expected to add six more cancers to the list used by the CNESST, Quebec’s workplace health and safety board. Leukemia, brain, testicular, esophageal, colorectal and breast cancer will be added, so firefighters diagnosed with those illnesses no longer need to prove the disease was work-related.

It also appears that the employer did not keep an accurate inventory of other pieces of equipment that are subject to an expiration date.

The fire department recently sent out instructions to all its firefighters asking them to record the identification number or date of manufacture of their helmets, gloves and boots, in order to keep an up-to-date inventory, with a view to proactively planning their replacement.

According to information gathered by Enquête, a few hundred items no longer met standards.

More needs to be done, union says

Ross said more remains to be done to “ensure that firefighters have the right equipment to do their job safely.”

PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals used in everything from fire department uniforms to firefighting foams, as well as some non-stick cookware and even cosmetics.

Health Canada says it monitors the chemicals closely as new variants are “continually being developed,” the agency’s website states. Health Canada adds that “cumulative exposure could increase the potential for adverse effects.” 

Studies have shown that firefighter gear tends to release more PFAS when they are subject to “wear and tear,” according to the U.S. government’s National Institute for Standards and Technology.

Fire departments in other Canadian cities, such as Vancouver, have already taken steps to ditch old, potentially harmful gear, while others, including Halifax, have taken precautions to make using it safer.