NEWS from Nassau County Fire Academy
Nassau County Fire Service Academy (NCFSA) Launches Partnership with Emergency DECON Services and RedLine Gear Cleaning and Inspection

This initiative is focused on reducing cancer among firefighters across Long Island through best-practice advanced gear cleaning.

NCFSA is committed to protecting not only their instructors but also the more than ten thousand firefighters on Long Island from occupational cancer. As part of their cancer prevention initiative, NCFSA has contracted RedLine to provide multiple advanced cleanings each year for the bunker gear worn by academy instructors. The service will be operated by Emergency DECON Services, a Long Island based decontamination provider that is owned and operated by firefighters with more than 80 years of experience in the fire service.

Long Island’s First Mobile Extraction Unit® (MEU)

In order to better serve the academy and the hundreds of departments on Long Island as well as across New York State, RedLine has positioned a brand new MEU that will be located at the academy. The MEU is mobile and can clean up to 40 sets of gear per day. Now New York departments will be able to access the MEU for advanced gear cleaning services that comply with NFPA 1851 guidelines.

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“The Academy needs to change the culture in the way people think. In the past, I wore soot on my helmet and on my gear like a badge of honor. That’s what you did and that’s how you were measured. We are setting an example for the 71 fire departments across Long Island in the importance of taking gear cleaning to the next level.”
– Paul Wilders, Asst. Chief, NCFSA

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“Having the MEU here on the island is important as it helps both response times and availability of scheduling of the truck. Now the truck is dedicated full-time to serving the New York market.”
– Mike Matros, President, RedLine

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“The importance of proper gear cleaning for mitigating cancer is being pushed down from the top and the Academy is setting the example and communicating this message to the firefighters especially the younger firefighters that the way things were done in the past is not the way we can do them anymore.”
– Rich Gross, President, Emergency DECON Services

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To see the MEU in action or to learn more, please contact Rich Gross at 631-563-2744.

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