How Soot-Stained Firefighter Suits Are Deep Cleaned | Deep Cleaned | Insider

Firefighters are essential members of the first-responder community. And burning buildings are not their only concern: cancer plagues the firefighting community as a result of breathing in harmful chemicals and smoke on a daily basis. These chemicals linger on their gear, and without proper cleaning, they contribute further to health issues.
Mike Matros, the owner of RedLine Gear Cleaning, seeks to change this reality by encouraging firefighters to have their gear properly cleaned. RedLine specializes in deep cleaning contaminated bunker gear in an effort to prevent cancer and protect the future of the firefighting service.
For more, visit:
/ redlinegearcleaning
/ redlinegearcleaning
/ redlinegearcleaning
www.redlinegearcleaning.com
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How Soot-Stained Firefighter Suits Are Deep Cleaned | Deep Cleaned | Insider

[@miasinterestinglife]

I live in Germany and around here, especially in the bigger cities the firefighters get completely fresh equipment before they even leave the scene and hand their dirty equipment onto a truck, that has the only purpose of carrying fresh air tanks and gear. This way the firefighters don't breathe in all that soot on their gear, the trucks stay clean and they're ready for another call while still driving back to the firehouse.

[@peterbackeus8806]

The same in many swedish fireservices. The ff has to set of gear so that one of them could go trough cleaning and set 2 is in service. Many new firestation is built with two different areas, so the contaminated equipment don’t have to been mixed with clean stuff. They don’t even park their engines in the bay before they are washed.

[@rhubarbpie2027]

Reminds me of MOPP exhange for chemical warfare equipment.

[@oxfd611]

Here in the states the people with our funding only care that we put the fire out and make money for their general fund when we take a patient to a hospital. They really don’t care about our health. We are fodder.

[@Matthew_Calmert]

Trust the Germans to be that efficient. I like it

[@baddriversofthenorcalarea500]

70% of firefighters in the US arent even paid money to do the job. They are volunteers.

[@gusn4652]

Wow I learned a lot from this video and I am proud of this company for trying to limit exposure and change the stereotypes!

[@double6530]

​@@TheDogGoesWoof69 where are you getting the 93% from?

[@rextherunt3135]

​@@TheDogGoesWoof69 based

[@gusn4652]

@@TheDogGoesWoof69 The best stats are the ones i make up

[@praetorxian]

@@TheDogGoesWoof69 I get the nostalgia of experience and tradition. But I never understood the attitude of keeping everything else meticulously clean, maintained and functional…the apparatus, the equipment/tools, the fireball, uniform, etc. But wearing grossly contaminated “salty” PPE is otherwise acceptable?

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

Thank you! Glad you enjoy it

[@RealSalica]

That is such a good idea for a business, and a great service to firefighters . Amazing !

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

Thank you, we are proud of the work we get to do.

[@boohere2]

This guy presenting the video repeatedly referred to "him" or "his". It was never SHE . Just rude. There are female fire fighters out there too! I guess he doesn't respect them

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@martinwinther6013]

All respect for firefighters and people who have a good idea for doing some business. But I cant stop thinking that cleaning gear should be a part of the jobdescription. Its not like theres always a fire going on somewere. Might not be practical in larger cities, but most firebrigades have more downtime than actual workhours

[@kumpfie53]

How is this not the standard? This is absolutely amazing and an imperative part of taking care of your gear and self.

[@s0nnyburnett]

Probably not cheap and not available in most places, not to mention downtime.

[@Coronet_shop]

Hopefully each state has several wash trucks in few years

[@james-hb5tu]

Where i am from the firefighters thinks it makes them cool to have smoke stained gear. They would for sure protest if someone tried to clean there helmet

[@ffjsb]

@@james-hb5tu When I first started it was that way, but then we learned. But spare gear is VERY expensive, and you can't get gear the same day, some places it takes up to 10 months to get gear delivered.

[@thehighgroundhimself736]

@@s0nnyburnett Its relatively affordable, at least how we do it here, because the whole system is designed to be modular and interchangeable. After a fire, you disassemble your gear which is basically just removing anything out of your pockets, your name strip and velcro on the back. The jacket and pants can be washed as one, and the helmet gets its inner parts taken out, which are sent to the manufacturer to clean in regular intervals, they just get a new one, wipe down their helmet and they are good to go. Since we do it after every exposure, its not nearly as complicated as in the video because, even after a fire they are still much cleaner than what is shown here. The cleaning station in our department are just 2 industrial washing machines and a dryer. They go from a basic rinse to the second machine to get treated and than dried, you usually have your gear back after like 2 weeks max, for the period in between you get older replacement gear, which still does the job.

[@Meowcat-nc3uo]

this company should be invested in so the entire nations firefighters have clean gear!

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

Thanks! We do have franchise opportunities for other firefighters to start and own their own business

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@Autofleet4429]

At my department all of our newer stations are built with extraction facilities installed and the older larger stations have extraction facilities installed too, and the older smaller stations that don’t have the space to have them installed go to the larger/newer stations and get their gear cleaned there, firefighters also get at least 2 full sets of gear so they can stay in service for longer, My department is massively investing in anti-cancer protection in the form of regular new gear, new stations with “airlocks and positive pressure in the living spaces so all the nasty stuff stays in the vehicle bays, its costing us a pretty penny but we have lost to many firefighters to cancer and making it our no.1 priority to end that.

[@susanadams4480]

This is wondeful! We had a house fire almost 10 years ago and when my husband touched his guitar that was sitting in the house in order to clean it, he became ill from the chemicals for days. This will save a lot of service people!

[@lukehinch3441]

please ignore the comment below its defiantly a scam

[@lasagnaocelot4766]

My mother’s late husband was a firefighter and he developed lung cancer from the carcinogens left on his suit… this is a great thing to see and hear for the families

[@boyensn4233]

Wow, that's shocking as a German. Here you clean your Gear. Like it's mandatory, because everything thing else also would be nasty.

[@npc1238]

American fire fighting tradition pre-dates Napoleon lol, obviously we're going to have some outdated traditions. -An American Fire Fighter

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

We do have standards and guidelines around the maintenance of gear but we are working on making sure it is strictly adopted to keep everyone safe and healthy. Behaviors are changing rapidly over here and we are so proud of that!

[@boyensn4233]

@@redlinegearcleaning8238 Good Luck on your Mission💪🏻!🙂

[@zachturner8624]

Yeah it’s interesting in australia after a fire our turnout gear gets but into clear bags and sent off away to be cleaned and get new turnout gear from our stocks at the station,

[@npc1238]

@@zachturner8624 one of the reasons why it isn't common in the U.S is because some fire departments have multiple fires a day/week. I've been to 3 in the last 2 days lol

[@ShawnMcNaughton]

This is both interesting and gives a bit of hope that we might be trying to improve this situation one firestation at a time. Props for trying to teach and protect.

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

Thank you!

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@AirlinersHD]

Firefighter for 13 years. For all civilians who do not see the problem, I have the following explanation. From the attached we can see that firefighters in America do not clean their equipment (helmets). There is even an unwritten rule that specifically the helmet should not be cleaned, for the reason that a clean helmet means that you have not been in a lot of action. Washing the helmet removes the experience. Complete nonsense. This job of a helmet cleaner is another in a series of unnecessary jobs and ultimately a cost to taxpayers. A firefighter should clean his personal protective equipment and keep it in the best possible hygienic condition. After every major intervention, I clean my helmet, disinfect it and my helmet is completely clean even after 13 years.

[@ArtisticCeleste]

You would think having clean uniforms would be a higher mark of pride than a dirty one, as it shows you put in the time to maintain your equipment. Some of those coats were so dirty you couldn't even see the reflective stripes that mark them as a firefighters', glad there's people trying to change attitudes towards cleaning!

[@danwood6233]

Almost all guys in the fire service make sure that their uniforms are damn near perfect. Turnout gear which is what we wear into fires it really has been a source of pride to look salty in the same way that your uniform (which are the clothes under the gear) is as perfect as it can be

[@Alucard-gt1zf]

@@danwood6233 cool, how about you just look 100% perfect instead of 50%?

[@topikbagusid]

i never expected to have a wholesome moment in a deep cleaned video

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

Glad we could do that!

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@yankeesforlife24]

I love the ending. The mark of a experienced firefighter isn’t how dirty his gear is, it’s how long he or she lives a happy retirement after their career.

[@akoll6138]

This is a great idea for a company. It sucks that it isn’t available everywhere I’m volunteer, so all we’ve got to clean our gear is one extractor that can only fit two sets of gear and a wash basin. We put our gear into the extractor, then on a drying rack and that’s it. Our helmets and boots are cleaned by hand using sponges and dish soap. It’s better than nothing, but at the same time it isn’t the best

[@RAMA-gu8cs]

That the thing tho like this stigma that dirty gear = experience when you see a guy with clean gear you are automatically think he's new but again that "experience" cause cancer so we need to change that stigma

[@SpartanFarron]

This process should be mandatory after every fight and have each FF help out scrubbing their own gear.

[@英語わかりません]

I actually didn't think of the cancer risk that is involved in firefighting, yeah, f that. Sounds like the modern equivalent to coal mining in the 1800's.

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@NathanCollins]

@@lukehinch3441 you got rid of em!!

[@lukehinch3441]

@@NathanCollins good

[@NathanCollins]

@@lukehinch3441 heck yeah

[@lukehinch3441]

@@NathanCollins persistence is key for doing bits like that

[@OfficialSamuelC]

UK, Germany and so on firefighters clean their gear when back from a job, and is standard and expected. Dirty gear is also unprofessional. Same applies to any emergency service.

[@TheStig_TG]

In the US here the fire fighters actually like the look of these, which is stupid but they gonna do what they are gonna do.

[@porkydonutz9112]

Same goes in Canada, boots are expected to get nasty over time but cleaned as best as possible

[@MozTS]

Sounds like woke bullshit

[@toryknotts8026]

Sometime around 2008 I watched a documentary about firefighters, I distinctly remember that during a call, all of the firefighters were exposed to something hazardous that required them to send all their gear in to be decontaminated. They were not happy that their helmets had to go in, they said they'd rather loose the rest of their gear than send in their helmets.

[@moriahgodes7859]

A lot of the us fire service has values strongly rooted in tradition and nostalgia- it’s a very interesting culture that can vary station to station!

[@jbryantphotographer]

I’ve been guilty of this at times. I wash my gear (minus my name panel) pretty often. We’ve lost quite a few guys around here to cancer recently. Breaking bad habits is hard but we should be expected to set a good example for Guys coming up.

[@misslaeebeauty1916]

That Mobile facility truck is crazyyy🔥Your doing a great service !

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

thank you!

[@christopherpuylara6355]

I've had to have my gear sent out to be cleaned after fighting a tar/asphalt fire in an old school bus at a paving company. Got back to the station, bagged it, got someone to get me a set of gear, and was ready for the next pager beep-beep. The company that cleaned it did a great job.

[@wooly4569]

these guys are great they came to my fd about a month ago and cleaned all the gear. It was clean for about a week and then we got a fully involved residential fire

[@boltonky]

Amazing service :) Also really makes you think the contaminants we breathe everyday from the way we do things

[@claykalmar8131]

I'm glad my second set of bunker gear finally came in. Now I don't have to be out of service while cleaning my gear. That stuff gets real nasty, and the cancer threat is real. Nice work!

[@feildhockeyfeildhockey5676]

If your reading this I hope you have a wonderful day! Stay safe sunshine! : )

[@kirankumarsukumar]

Thanks ❤

[@Noelv23]

Thanks for realizing, the hard fire fighters work , out of all service members these are the ones I look up to the most.

[@mordsythe]

That you for looking after the guys and gals that literally save lives. Keep up the amazing work

[@BlenderStudy]

Great deep clean work. Just amazing. Thank you for the update, Insider..!!

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@Liebe-Futurel]

This is interesting, the department I am familiar had dry cleaning and deep cleaning hardware on-site that you would clean your gear after every fire.

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

That's great! A lot of our clients have in house gear cleaning equipment. But when you need a lot of gear cleaned fast they still call us because of our capabilities and certifications to remain compliant.

[@mikemorrisonmusic]

Thank you for all you do!!

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@KJNZ2011]

We have signs on our truck and in our engine bays, "Dirty gear causes cancer" a not so gentle reminder to always clean your gear. We send ours away. We do our boots and helmets

[@hoodkagejames]

This is great & saving lives

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@nightdaychannel828]

Amazing service and educational company! This should be an OSHA standard! Cleaning gear should be more important than cleaning trucks!

[@devilpupbear09]

Now this is a noble calling

[@lifehouse51100]

every fire station should have this kind of facility inside the firehouse with people specially hired for this

[@craigcooknf]

Learned a lot from this vid. Fascinating.

[@deanwrubel5730]

Im on my lunch break In fire acdemy and this dropped lol

[@Wildcat_giveaway..]

Great fan ❤️ Congratulations you have been selected among our selected winners use the above name to acknowledge your prize.

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@16Bentham]

Thanks for what you do guys!

[@Wildcat_giveaway..]

Great fan ❤️ Congratulations you have been selected among our selected winners use the above name to acknowledge your prize.

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway..stop trying to scam people

[@Jarrahvrx]

In Australia after a fire our structural gear is bagged up and sent away for decon and dry cleaning. Plus we go through a decon process upon exiting the fire. Its baffling that these guys would just wear the same gear over and over without cleaning it.

[@Max78224]

Here in Germany we always give our gear to the cleaning after a contact with smoke

[@monicapelayo3188]

I would love to help them and clean those uniforms cuz this was so satisfying

[@zwoodard1]

Nice! This is a great service to offer!!

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@Bearded-Foodie]

It staggers me that it’s not just considered acceptable, but is a badge of honour to keep wearing filthy kit like that. Hopefully this is the start of a change in the culture!

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

The culture has been changing pretty quickly recently!

[@Cooldude-ko7ps]

If people still want the “badge of honour” they could find some way to make it look dirty bit it actually isn’t. I dunno if that’s possible tho

[@bxodyssey]

That’s dope! Great service. I never thought about if and or how their gear gets cleaned. Be safe out there guys.

[@JacobCarlson]

This is so great! I'm curious how they handle potential alarms while they're cleaning the gear... Maybe they only do half at a time or something similar

[@matthewhaverkamp8657]

They probably only clean gear of guys who are off duty.

[@jumpingjeffflash9946]

He's cleaned my departments gear, his HQ is behind our main station. We have 2 sets of gear but they schedule the cleanings so that you're on your days off when it's unavailable and clean for when you come on duty.

[@Shield.148]

Great work Brothers!

[@fillup40]

Nice truck.

[@nobodyknows5007]

Shout out from camp Lejeune. Awesome stuff. This should be way bigger than it is

[@beebeebee05]

Very interesting and informative video. Thank you 😊

[@Wildcat_giveaway..]

Great fan ❤️ Congratulations you have been selected among our selected winners use the above name to acknowledge your prize.

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@southernoregoncatmom6519]

God bless you for doing this!!!!!!

[@militaryhistoryandsurvival5880]

Sad part is most departments can’t afford this I know we can’t

[@Stewalebeth]

How do you guys clean your equipments?

[@robertsestito6821]

Use safer grants on extractors and soap.

[@lindalavenderisfabulous]

As a restorative cleaner..... I salute you!

[@SoFNuTT]

While those helmet cameras and flashlights are built to be water resistant, it would have been a better service to take them off prior to soaking them and wash them separately.

[@vm360fly]

Amazing job for such a niche market. For the firefighters wanting to keep their dirty helmets = you're already amazing people, your job is dangerous enough, please don't get cancer for ego related reasons.

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@SweetCammieEyes1]

Camp Lejeune!! Good ole Jacksonville, NC

[@ickess]

A labor of love

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@djcfrompt]

While I love the concept, I'd love more for these guys to be put out of business by fire departments getting their own gear cleaning setups.

[@jennglow4647]

Very cool 😃

[@somma4697]

The longest I didn’t wash my gear was about a year when I was younger.. and the gear had its own ecosystem before I decided it was time to wash it, how brain dead was that? Lol

[@vees191]

Found a need, created a company. extending lives. Bravo. Do they have franchises?

[@jimmyssnowremoval1075]

I see a lot of new fire stations use the new hot, warm and cold/ neutral systems but even if they take there coats and helmets off they still bring it in the cab of the truck and then they breath in or it gets all over the inside of the cab. The only one that doesn’t always do that is the driver and they keep it on the outside of the truck in a compartment which is smart. Keep it out of the cab if it’s dirty and keep the SCBA in a cabinet on the tuck. I see a lot of fire department have rehab units. That usually have snacks, water bottles, and such. It should be a law that they have two separate “rooms” and they have to quickly shower in this room after a fire that’s built into the rehab tuck.

[@Look_What_I_Did]

Man the music really ties the whole video together.

[@thegamingwarlord6073]

“Firefighter suits”… That’s called Turnout Gear, y’all.

[@JustAGenericGamer]

Hearing the outlook email sound at 0:33 made me think I received a work email.

[@Jordan-ce7sf]

What a brilliant business idea

[@buonafortuna8928]

Great job fellas

[@dianamay3601]

Great job, please keep it up!

[@PaulieMac77]

These need to go global

[@MissYijare]

fun fact, most fire brigades outside of the US are doing this without external help.

[@loveu8910]

Honestly im shocked that its not standard to have new clean gear all the time. Like even doctors and nurses in hospitals get clean scrubs.

[@kakungcu]

Firefighter suits deep cleaned

[@Stop4MotionMakr]

This is the first time I heard someone call a giant washing machine an "extractor" loll

[@my_name_is_chef4856]

Very awesome to see a young innovative American giving back to first responder’s continuing to serve the community. Excellent work

[@mcochrane87]

...shouldn't the cleaning crew be wearing some kind of respiratory PPE? If the items are contaminated, wouldn't they be similarly exposed?

[@karstenvagt1075]

That's exactly what I asked myself. Also why using disinfectants without gloves and respiratory PPE...

[@Quokkat7]

Thats a great service but now im worried about the safety of the cleaning crew while handling known cancer causing stuff everyday

[@brtecson]

Everybody loves firefighters

[@Shinzon23]

Wait, firefighters seriously thought going into fires with toxic materials burning And not cleaning that s*** off their equipment was acceptable?!?!

[@khurramkhurshed9427]

Quite interesting

[@lukehinch3441]

@@Wildcat_giveaway.. stop trying to scam people

[@Chronically_JBoo]

Oooh I would love to clean firefighter gear since I can't physically be an actual firefighter and always wanted to

[@moniquen9806]

Very interesting. I'm just wondering if you all should not wear ppe when you're cleaning these.

[@cartman4885]

To be honest I thought the firefighters always did wash their own gear................

[@smorris281]

This is a great concept, however it’s not very practical for the majority of depts, mostly poor volunteer.

[@garywhite2050]

Good stuff.👍🏼 What did they wear while you were cleaning?

[@joeys8701]

They schedule in advance, so I think they prob schedule for times when there aren’t fires. /s

[@PaulBeetge]

How do you schedule for times there aren't fires... it's not like you can choose a time where there's no fires...

[@yogirizki3529]

pretty sure the clean the gear that belong to those who off duty/off shift first

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

Great question! Most departments actually have to send their gear offsite to commercial laundromats. This can take weeks and even months to clean and return to firefighters. Leaving them to wear old gear or spend money to rent gear while they wait. This is partly why we invented the mobile cleaning. We can arrive at a station and clean gear in a matter of hours, not weeks. This allows us to clean gear for those that are off duty that day

[@yogirizki3529]

@@redlinegearcleaning8238 you guys are the Champs!

[@NordicSoul95]

So how often do you replace the water in the MEU?

[@the_once-and-future_king.]

Any firefighter that thinks filthy, contaminated gear is a 'badge of honour' should go spend a day in a terminal cancer ward. They'd soon change their mind!

[@whynotjustmyusername]

A lot of that gear should still be thrown out after though. Those burnt and crumpled helmets? Even after they're cleaned, those burnt areas are prone to increased heat absorption and reduced protection. Those helmets no longer have the mechanical properties necessary to protect you from impacts of falling debris. Those discolour reflective strips? Those strips are there for a reason. You endanger yourself needlessly. What these guys are doing is great and over here in Europe is actually the standard in most places, if possible after every single fire. But you also need to know when a helmet should serve on a desk rather than in a locker.

[@redengineer4380]

Frankly, given the nature of modern controversy, if the most controversial thing you're doing is cleaning a helmet, I think you're doing something right.

[@CRAFT7445]

Was equipment just hand washed before your service?

[@kapten-awesome]

Why don't they have 2 sets and then everyone clean their on stuff at the end of your shift so it can dry for a day. That way you always have a new clean set every day.

[@Knots263]

What about in house extractors? In terms of cost vs hiring you?

[@sqike001ton]

Well at least i do one thing right i have a couple of nomex hoods and i take them and wash them occasionally

[@cheyneymarshall6174]

What happens if a call comes in while you're cleaning the gear? Do the have a second set?

[@MusicaholicCentral]

May I suggest you change the name of the title from fire fighter suits to turn out gear?

[@Jacob-mm8xq]

If someone has stickers or anything on it do they come off when put into the helmet cleaner?

[@GS-md1ex]

I would assume that using an ultrasonic cleaner and only lighter scrubbing would minimize that, but stickers could probably still peel off, especially if they’re cheaper

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

Nope, we clean helmets with stickers all the time. It also doesn't damage leather shields.

[@abwwjd1]

What do they do if a massive fire happens during cleaning process? 🤔

[@marcohoekstra]

Why don’t buy some new gear from time to time? Some stuff like the helmets looks really old that can’t be good.

[@danielwalicke6635]

They do buy new ones. However, the cost for a firefighter turnout gear is about 7 to 10k. So it really needs to be unsafe and unusable bore that can happen

[@redlinegearcleaning8238]

Specialized turnout gear is extremely expensive. Guidelines state gear may not be in service for more than 10 years and without proper cleaning a lot of gear doesn't last that long. We hope to help extend the life of a firefighters gear and save money for departments

[@axe3853]

Are you franchiseble

[@Cooldude-ko7ps]

2:47 why not just put markings on the helmets that makes it look “salty” but isn’t actually dirty?

[@zimmermanlandscape9287]

Wow that stuff is roached. The department must have called the cleaners because the hazard pay for wearing that stuff got too expensive

[@exTOMex]

talks about how unsafe this gear is but doesn't wear a mask lol