Read the full article by Kinga Borondy (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)

“It took Diane Cotter more than five years to garner the support she and 10 Worcester firefighters needed to successfully file a multi-jurisdictional lawsuit against the makers of firefighter safety gear.

Now dozens of Massachusetts lawmakers have signed a letter urging the state Attorney General to join in and support the class action suit.

‘I heard the glorious news,’ Cotter said on learning the lawmaker’s letter had been presented to the Attorney General.

The letter, crafted by Sen. Michael O. Moore, D-Millbury, and Rep. Jim Hawkins, D-Attleboro, and signed by 97 lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to date, urges Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell to have Massachusetts join in the lawsuit. It also urges Campbell to investigate whether the makers of the gear violated the state’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive trade practices.

‘Turnout gear is sold to protect our firefighters; turnout gear that harms our firefighters is fundamentally unfair and deceptive,’ Moore alleges in the letter.

A spokesperson for the attorney general issued this statement late in the afternoon:

‘AG Campbell is committed to continuing the office’s work at both the state and national level to address PFAS contamination and its significant impacts on Massachusetts residents, including our first responders. We have received the letter, and we are reviewing it.’ 

The fibers of the gear are treated with ‘forever chemicals,’ PFAS or Polyfluoroalkyl substances, widely used as fire retardants in home and office furnishings, toys and clothing, as well as for non-stick cookware and as a waterproofing agent.

‘Even at low levels, the toxicity of PFAS chemicals can be devastating, increasing the risk of cancer, immunosuppression, birth defects, colitis and other diseases,’ according to Moore’s missive. He noted that 66% of firefighter deaths are due to cancers and related illnesses.

‘Manufacturers know that PFAS are carcinogens, yet the manufacturers producing the gear that protects them from fire, are exposing them to carcinogens,’ Moore said in an interview with the Telegram & Gazette. ‘They must develop a new product that does not use PFAS.’

Cotter’s mission to expose problems with the protective gear that was introduced to the fire service in the late 1990’s came with the death in 2001 of a New Jersey firefighter who had ‘been steamed to death,’ after being trapped under burning debris in the basement of a house.

An examination of his gear revealed that it had deteriorated due to exposure to ‘severe thermal loading,’ according to published reports. That deterioration burned some fibers in the outer layers of the turnout coat, causing what investigators described as a ‘screen door effect’ allowing heat into the inner layers of the coat.

When Cotter read the story, she ran down to the basement to inspect her husband’s turnout gear and, as she had suspected, the fibers appeared to have deteriorated. It was when her husband, Paul, a firefighter since 1988 was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 55 that she started to suspect the gear could not only fail due to use, but that it could also endanger firefighters in the long run.

‘How could someone so young be diagnosed with cancer?’ Diane Cotter said she asked herself.

The answer revealed that the bunker gear, a mixture of Kevlar and Nomex, is treated with ‘a staggering amount of  PFAS chemicals.’ When it was introduced, it was touted as lighter, more flexible and flame resistant than the rubberized gear it replaced, described by firefighters as nothing more than a heavy raincoat. The older gear protected the emergency responders by forming a physical barrier to flames.

Now, the very tool touted to protect firefighters in the short term, exposed them to long-term harm.

‘I worked relentlessly for five years to engage (former Attorney General) Maura Healey to file a suit against the manufacturers,’ Cotter said, alleging that the former AG, ‘chose her political career over Massachusetts firefighters and the state’s taxpayers. She chose to do nothing about the turnout gear.’

In 2022, Healey did file suit against the makers of certain fire-retardant foams, claiming their use was detrimental to the environment.

‘But she chose to sue because it’s an environmental issue rather than an IDLH, immediate danger to life or health for firefighters,’ Cotter said.

Other obstacles included a former president of the national IAFF International Association. The national organization has since changed leadership and under President Edward Kelly, it has signed on to the suit.

Another roadblock was the reports concerning the toxicity of chemicals that can accumulate on emergency responder gear at the scenes of fires.”….