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Council bills push FDNY to rid gear of cancer-causing chemicals

Seek to replace PFAS-laden equipment

BY HARPER FREEMAN
Posted 11/28/25

Firefighters encounter thousands of harmful potentially cancer-causing chemicals each time they don their firefighting gear to battle blazes across the city. But for decades, FDNY firefighters have been using gear that itself contains dangerous chemicals.

Legislation making its way through the City Council seeks to rid the FDNY’s gear of the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that are a central component of the middle-moisture barrier of the FDNY’s bunker gear. Council Member Joann Ariola, chair of the Council’s Committee on Fire and Emergency Management, who introduced the package of four PFAS-related bills, said she created the legislation in consultation with unions representing FDNY firefighters and fire officers.

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