b'FINDINGWORKABLE SOLUTIONS:Beth Gallup Initiates Program By Fire fighters, for Fire fightersB Y S T E V E H A N S E NC aptain Beth Gallup of the Kent Fire Department knew that when fire fighters would begin the process of decontaminating after combating a fire, they would often avoid a crucial step: washing their hands, neck and face. And they would avoid doing so for one simple reasonthe water was too cold.So, Gallup and the departments lead mechanic, Eric Heintzinger, set out to solve the problem. With about $70 of hoses and other fittings, Heintzinger found a way to route water from the heat exchanger to the pump panel. A warm-water wash station with water at a comfortable 98 degrees eliminated a keyto create a simple, easy-to-digest publication that was by fire obstacle that often kept fire fighters from removing dangerousfighters, for fire fighters. The committee would seek to find carcinogens from their bodies. In fact, with Heintzingers help,how fire stations were dealing with carcinogen exposure, and Pierce Manufacturing made the feature available on fire enginethen determine what mitigation techniques might be most models within a couple of years. successful. There wasnt anywhere that had collected best Beth Gallup is no engineer. Nor is she a mechanic. But shepractices in one place, recalls Gallup. And there was no is a problem-solver, and her ability to identify key issues thatnational standard.affect the long-term health of her fellow fire fightersandThe results have been phenomenally successful. Over find simple solutionsis unmatched. In fact, there may be nothe years, Gallup sees the safety measures she championed better example than what you hold in your hands: this edition ofbecoming just as consequential to fire fighters as the mandatory Healthy In, Healthy Out. use of air packs in the 1960s to help reduce emphysema First published in March 2016, Healthy In, Healthy Out wasor the use of latex gloves in the 1980s and 90s to stop the created by Gallup and a group of dedicated career fire fighterstransmission of hepatitis B were. Indeed, in the years since from around the state of Washington as a response to a crisisHealthy In, Healthy Out was first published, such measures have unfolding throughout fire stations across the United States, andbecome a Blue Card standard, and the National Fire Protection certainly at Gallups own Kent Fire Department, which becameAssociation is set to make such protocols a national standard, known in 2017 as the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority. Aspending a final vote from its Standards Council.Gallup recalls, over a stretch of five years, she and her departmentOf course, theres more work to be done. In this third printing lost three fire fighters to cancer. One of those victims was Martyof Healthy In, Healthy Out, youll find the best practices for Hauer, who was so fit and healthy that everyone simply assumedminimizing carcinogen exposure that Gallup and her team worked hed never suffer even a scratch on the job. Marty was an Adonis,so hard to assemble. Youll also find essential information on the Gallup recalls. If he can get sick, what about us mere mortals? next crisis facing the firefighting community: mental wellness.Then Gallup herself got sick. It was a brain tumor.Beth Gallup may be retired, but she still has a deep Gallup received treatment, and the tumor hasnt grown biggerconnection to the cause. Her second cousin, John Gallup, is now since. Although her career fighting fires was over, she soughttaking on this deeply important issue. Aside from being, in Beth new ways to make a difference. With incredible support from herGallups words, a rock star in the mental health community, boss, Assistant Chief of Operations John Willits, Gallup got tosecond-cousin John is a battalion chief with Puget Sound work. Just six monthssix months!after her diagnosis, GallupRegional Fire Authority.applied for and received a $103,000 Safety & Health InvestmentThose mental wellness best practices are now assembled Projects grant from the Washington State Department of Laborin Healthy In, Healthy Out. The mental health of fire fighters & Industries. The goal was to gather fire fighters from acrosshas become a conflagration in the fire service, and proactively the state and seek out experts across the nation to collect andconfronting these issues is every bit as critical as it has been to identify best practices that could help protect fire fighters fromaddress the causes of emphysema, hepatitis B transmission and exposure to carcinogens that are present at every fire. carcinogen exposure.Just as the makeshift fire engines warm-water wash stationIt is so sad, Beth Gallup says. In the last few years, the rate was a common-sense solution to a nagging problem, so too wasof suicides for fire fighters has now surpassed the rate of line-of-what would become Healthy In, Healthy Out. Gallup intendedduty deaths, based on some fire-service studies.3'