WAVERLY, Ohio — The Pebble Township Fire Department has a working washer and dryer for the first time in its history, after a Waverly rental business donated a stacked laundry center to help the all-volunteer department clean gear contaminated by smoke, soot and the chemical residue left behind by crashes involving electric vehicles.
Rent-2-Own of Waverly agreed to donate the unit after Lt. Humphrey, of the fire department, put together a request to local businesses, the department said in a Facebook post. Photos posted by the department show the laundry center being delivered to the station on Carl Penn Road and set up in the apparatus bay alongside one of the department’s fire engines.
The department had gone without a washer and dryer, relying on other means to clean turnout gear after calls. A properly working laundry center lets firefighters extract contaminants from their gear on-site rather than carrying them home, where they can expose family members, the department said.
The donation addresses a growing concern in the fire service. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency, classified occupational exposure as a firefighter as a Group 1 carcinogen in 2022, its highest-risk category, citing sufficient evidence linking the job to cancer in humans. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has found firefighters face a 9% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14% higher risk of dying from the disease than the general U.S. population. Research has also shown that turnout gear can continue releasing volatile organic compounds absorbed during a fire for hours afterward, making prompt decontamination of gear and skin a key defense recommended by groups including the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Electric vehicle fires and crashes present an added challenge for crews, since damaged lithium-ion battery packs can release their own hazardous byproducts that cling to protective gear, on top of the standard combustion byproducts firefighters already encounter.
Pebble Township Fire Department is a fully volunteer department with about 25 members operating out of a single station on Carl Penn Road, serving roughly 2,500 residents across about 37 square miles of northern Pike County. The department holds an annual fall open house to support its all-volunteer operation and relies heavily on community and business support to fund equipment the township’s budget doesn’t cover.
Rent-2-Own, a rent-to-own retailer of appliances, furniture and electronics founded in 1960, operates a store at 611 W. Emmitt Ave. in Waverly as part of a small regional chain with locations across southern Ohio. The Waverly store is run locally by Countryside Rentals Inc., based in Bainbridge.
“This is the type of community we love serving, support those who support us!” the department said in its Facebook post, thanking Rent-2-Own on behalf of its members and the community it serves.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Pebble Township Fire Department.
