(1) Background: Firefighters spend about 64% of their time responding to medical emergencies and providing medical care without a patient history, which can render them vulnerable to healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Infection prevention, control, and surveillance systems have been instituted at hospitals. However, the prevalence of firefighters’ exposure to HAI is unknown. The objective of this study was to document evidence of HAI on surfaces in fire stations and engines to inform disinfection procedures and identify which pathogens might contribute to occupational exposures. (2) Methods: High-touch or high-use surfaces of two fire departments were sampled during five separate occasions. One fire station from one fire department was sampled over a 4-week period, whereas four fire stations were sampled from a different fire department only once. Sampled surfaces included: entryway floor, washing machine, medical bag, back seat of engine, keyboard of reporting computer, engine console, and uniform pants. (3) Results: Multiple statistical models determined that bacterial contamination was similar between the two fire departments and their stations. Keyboards were the most contaminated surface for all fire stations and departments, E. coli was the most common bacteria detected, and C. difficile was the least detected bacteria. Adjustments for rates of contamination found that contamination rates varied between fire stations. (4) Conclusions: Comprehensive environmental sampling and clinical studies are needed to better understand occupational exposures of firefighters to HAI.

Firefighters are exposed to many different contaminants during structural fires. Moreover, if their protective gear is not successfully decontaminated, firefighters are at risk of being repeatedly exposed to contaminants from previous fires. Thus, the successful removal of contaminants from firefighter turnout gear is necessary to prevent or reduce repeated exposure risks. Laundering methods can reduce the probability of re-exposure to contaminants, such as heavy metals, thus reducing repeated exposure risks. In this study, the efficiencies of heavy metal removal from the firefighter turnout gear outer textile by Decon7 cleaning solution and a standard reference detergent were compared. Nitric acid digests were used to extract metals from textile samples, which were cut from small sections of firefighter jackets, before and after their laundering with either cleaning solution. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was utilized to determine metal contents, including arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), and lead (Pb) concentrations. Results from multiplicate samples indicated that, on average, Decon7 was significantly more efficient than a standard detergent in decreasing the concentrations of the five metals studied herein.