DENVER — It took record-breaking devastation for enough people to realize Colorado's firefighters don't have the gear they need.
As much as 80% of the firefighters in Colorado are volunteer, especially outside of the Denver metro area. Too often, fire departments, especially the smaller or volunteer ones, cannot afford the right gear that can ultimately save their lives.
The gear many of them do have is gear that doesn't fit -- boots that are too small, breathing apparatuses that don't properly protect crews from carcinogens.
"Not having a mask that for sure fits them has the potential for leaks, which could introduce toxic and super heated gases into their lungs, which is a devastating injury, if not fatal," Lisa Pine, the Colorado Fire Commission administrator, said. "Fire service hasn't done the best job of saying what we need."
Added Garry Briese, the executive director for the Colorado State Fire Chiefs: "The Colorado fire services protect every community in Colorado. The economy of the state. The tourism of the state. The safety of our citizens."
"Whether it happens right away or sometime in the future, they will get sick without having the right gear," he said.
This is a problem that has been years in the making, and these departments have looked for grants and even relied on bake sales and chili cook-offs to fundraise. In some cases, firefighters might even buy their own gear.
There is a state grant to help, but the amount of money available fluctuates every year depending on the budget, potentially falling short of what fire departments need.
"No matter what our gear looks like or how old it is, we put it on and help people on their worst days," said Lori Brill, the Golden Fire Academy coordinator. Golden Fire is a combination department with career and volunteer fire departments. Brill was also the assistant fire chief for Golden Gate Fire, a volunteer fire department.
Fire departments are often locally funded, but when a fire happens, firefighters like Brill might respond from all over the state. We've seen that, even with ill-fitting gear, during the Marshall Fire, the East Troublesome Fire and the Grizzly Creek Fire, and the list goes on.
These agencies are then looked at like a state asset, but it's a lot to ask of a largely volunteer group that also works day jobs.
Research has shown definitive health risks for firefighters, like cancer, and how proper gear can help. While volunteers are often the first to arrive to many fires, it's the fires that broke records that finally caught more people's attention.
"The proposals being discussed at the Capitol today as we speak have never been discussed before," Briese said Thursday morning. "It's unprecedented, the recognition by the state of Colorado."
The Colorado state legislature approved a $5 million grant to help buy gear that is waiting on a signature from Gov. Jared Polis (D).
Another bill is under consideration to provide more long-term funding for this same issue, as well.
"For a while it's been pretty lonely," said Brill, "We don't feel like we have a lot of advocates. It's exciting our voices are being heard."
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