Decontamination and Contamination Control Program

Fireground contaminants stay on the fireground. When this program is working, every member who was exposed at a fire has had the contamination reduced before they take their gear off, has swapped their hood, has wiped their skin, has ridden back in a cab with no contaminated gear in it, has showered within the hour, is wearing clean station wear, and has logged the exposure; their gear, SCBA, tools and the apparatus have been cleaned before the next call; and the station is laid out so that contamination cannot drift from the bay into the kitchen or the bunk room. The program’s spine is the hierarchy of contamination control. It asks first whether the exposure can be eliminated or substituted away, then what the building and the apparatus can do, then what procedures and staffing can do, and only last what the member’s protective equipment must do. Personal protective equipment is the last line, and this program exists because for most of the fire service’s history it was treated as the only one.

This module applies to every department that attends fires of any kind, which is every department. There is no switch. The Program Profile Worksheet question it answers is: “What fire, hazardous materials and medical exposures do members face, and where do contaminated people, gear and apparatus go afterwards?” The hazardous materials and biological elements point to their own programs and switch with them. Wildland and interface exposure is covered here for the on-scene and post-call controls and in the Wildland and Interface Program for deployment practice.

Consistent with 06 Glossary and Acronyms.

• Clean cab: the practice and the apparatus design that keep contaminated PPE, SCBA, tools and hose out of the crew compartment (NFPA 1585, 2025, ch. 6).
• Cold zone (green): the clean areas of a station (living, kitchen, dormitory, office) that contaminated items never enter (NFPA 1550, 2024, s. 12.5).
• Decon kit: the supplies carried on an apparatus for preliminary exposure reduction: sprayer or line, soap, brushes, tarp, wipes, spare hoods, gloves, bags and tags.
• Exposure report: the per-member record of an exposure to fireground or other contaminants, the controls used and the decontamination done (NFPA 1550, 2024, ch. 16).
• Gross decontamination: wet, soap-and-brush removal of surface contamination from the ensemble at the scene before doffing.
• Hierarchy of contamination control: elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative controls and PPE, applied in that order to fireground contaminants (FSRI, 2025).
• Hot zone (red): the station areas where contamination is likely (apparatus bay, decon area, shop).
• Hood swap: exchange of the exposed hood for a clean one at the scene, with the exposed hood bagged for advanced cleaning.
• Preliminary exposure reduction: the on-scene sequence of gross decontamination, doffing, hood swap, skin wipes and bagging that reduces contamination before transport (NFPA 1850, 2026, ch. 6).
• Products of combustion: the gases, vapours and particulates produced by a fire, including known and suspected carcinogens.
• Station zoning: the division of a station into red, yellow and green zones with marked boundaries and transition rules.
• Warm zone (yellow): the transition areas where contamination control takes place (gear storage, extractor room, showers, laundry).

Only the deltas from 01 Roles and Responsibilities. The program is owned by the Protective Clothing, Equipment and Decontamination Program Improvement Team, led by the {{PPE Program Manager}}; the {{PPE Coordinator}} runs the logistics; the {{Decon Lead}} is the officer or member the program manager designates to keep the decon kits, the station zoning plans and the decon log current (may be the {{PPE Coordinator}} in a smaller department).

Requirement. The department organizes every contamination control decision in the order of the hierarchy, strongest control first, and can show for each tier what it has done. (S1)

The hierarchy, with the evidence. The tiers and the findings under each are drawn from the Fire Safety Research Institute’s fireground contamination research, as summarized in its hierarchy of contamination control (FSRI, 2025); specific figures are not reproduced until verified against the primary studies.

Minimum method. The program appraisal reports the department’s position at each tier every year, with the controls in place, the gaps and the next action. The hazard profile (03 Hazard Profile and Risk Register Method) records fireground contamination as a hazard with the exposure pathways (inhalation, dermal, ingestion, cross-contamination) by activity: interior attack, exterior attack, overhaul, salvage, investigation, training burns, vehicle fires, wildland and interface, hazmat, station work, PPE handling, apparatus maintenance.

Evidence. The hierarchy table completed for the department in the annual appraisal; the hazard profile entry. (S1)

Requirement. Before any member who worked in the hot or warm zone of a fire removes their SCBA facepiece and bunker gear, the contamination on the outside of the ensemble is reduced at the scene, the hood is exchanged, the skin is wiped, and the contaminated gear is bagged (NFPA 1585, 2025, chs. 7 and 8); (NFPA 1550, 2024, ch. 16). The incident commander orders it and does not release a crew until it is done; crews are released as soon as their operational responsibilities end, and stay out of service until decontamination is complete and clean gear is in hand. (S1)

Minimum method. Full steps in SWP - On-Scene Preliminary Exposure Reduction. The elements:

1. Gross decon, wet, with soap, brushes and a dedicated line. A decon area is set in the warm zone, upwind and uphill where possible, with a dedicated hose line or the decon kit’s sprayer, a mild soap, soft brushes and a tarp or grate so runoff is controlled. The member stays fully in gear with SCBA on air. A second member (the “decon buddy”) wets the ensemble from the top down, applies soap, brushes gently with the grain of the fabric, and rinses from the top down, paying attention to the hood, the collar, the wristlets, the gloves, the front closure and the boots. Dry brushing alone is used only where water is not available, freezing makes wet decon unsafe, or the contaminant is water-reactive (then it is a hazmat decon).
2. SCBA kept on through overhaul. No member removes the facepiece inside the structure or in the smoke plume during overhaul, salvage or investigation (NFPA 1550, 2024, s. 16.5.2); (NFPA 1550, 2024, s. 9.11.7). The decision to remove SCBA is made by the incident commander or the incident safety officer after atmospheric monitoring for carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide shows readings below the department’s action levels (set in the Respiratory Protection Program), and never on the basis that the smoke looks light.
3. Doffing sequence. The member doffs in the warm zone after gross decon, SCBA facepiece last before the hood, hood pulled forward and off (never down around the neck), gloves removed and bagged before anything is touched with a bare hand, coat and trousers removed inside out where practical so the contaminated surface is inside the bundle. The sequence follows the finding that improper doffing causes secondary exposure (FSRI, 2025).
4. Hood swap. The exposed hood goes in the bag; a clean hood from the apparatus stock is issued so the member has a hood for the next assignment or the next call.
5. Skin wipes for neck, face and hands. Within minutes of doffing, the member wipes the neck, face, throat, jaw, behind the ears, hands and forearms with a skin-cleansing wipe from the kit, then uses a second wipe for the hands. Wipes go in the waste bag. Where water and soap are available, washing is better than wiping.
6. Bagging contaminated gear. Coat, trousers, hood and gloves go in a sealable bag or a lidded tote tagged with the member’s name, the station, the incident number and the date. Helmets and boots are wiped down and bagged or placed in a dedicated compartment. SCBA is wiped down, the facepiece bagged, and the unit stowed in a dedicated exterior compartment, never in the crew cab (NFPA 1850, 2026, ch. 16).
7. Clean cab. No contaminated gear, SCBA, tools or hose in the crew compartment. Members ride back in station wear with a clean hood or a disposable coverall if the department provides one. Where a crew must ride in gear (a volunteer crew returning in a vehicle without compartments, a second alarm pending), the gear has had gross decon, the hood has been swapped, the windows are open, and the cab interior is wiped at the station.
8. Transport of gear. Bagged gear travels in an exterior compartment or on a designated rack. Volunteer members do not take bagged gear home. Bagged gear goes to the station’s dirty-side decon area or the pickup point for the cleaning station or the ISP.
9. Release of crews. The incident commander releases crews as soon as their operational responsibilities end, to limit continued exposure and fatigue, and does not release a crew until preliminary exposure reduction is complete. The incident safety officer checks.
10. Investigators, instructors and command staff follow the same rules. The chief’s vehicle is not exempt.

Decon kit on every front-line apparatus. Contents list in toolkit item T1. Minimum: a sprayer or a dedicated line and nozzle, mild soap, soft brushes, a tarp, skin-cleansing wipes (at least two per seated position), spare hoods (one per seated position), nitrile gloves, sealable gear bags or totes with tags, waste bags, a hand-wash supply where the apparatus carries a water tank, and the on-scene decon checklist card.

Evidence. Decon log entry per working fire (Form - Decontamination Log); the officer’s post-call checklist (T2); kit inventory on the apparatus check; hood and wipe consumption counts. (S1)

Requirement. The crew compartment of every apparatus is kept free of contaminated PPE, SCBA, tools and hose, because fireground contaminants have been found inside cabs (FSRI, 2025). New apparatus are specified with exterior or sealed gear compartments, SCBA stowage outside the cab or in sealed brackets, wipeable interior surfaces and no fabric upholstery (NFPA 1585, 2025, ch. 6). Existing apparatus are retrofitted or operated with the rules in 5.2 step 7. (S1 for the rules; S2 for specification of new apparatus)

Minimum method. The Equipment Standards team adds the clean-cab elements to the apparatus specification through the Apparatus, Driving and Roadway Operations Program. After every fire the cab interior (seats, floor, handles, headsets, radios, mobile data terminal, steering wheel, door panels) is wiped with the department’s chosen cleaner. The cab is deep-cleaned monthly and after any heavy exposure.

Evidence. Apparatus specification; the cab wipe-down entry on the decon log; the monthly deep-clean record. (S1)

Requirement. Within one hour of returning to the station, every exposed member has showered and changed into clean station wear; before the apparatus goes back in service, the gear, SCBA, tools, hose and cab have been cleaned or sent for cleaning and clean replacements are on the apparatus; crews are out of service until this is done. The exposure and contamination control standard sets the cleaning expectations these rules meet (NFPA 1585, 2025, chs. 7 to 9). The order skin, PPE, apparatus, station follows the evidence on where contaminants persist (FSRI, 2025). (S1)

Minimum method. Full steps in SWP - Post-Call Station Decontamination. The elements:

• Shower within the hour. Every member exposed in the hot or warm zone showers with soap, hair included, within 60 minutes of leaving the scene. The apparatus is out of service for that hour unless the department’s deployment risk requires otherwise, in which case the officer records the decision. Volunteer halls without a shower adopt a written alternative: shower at home within the hour, with the member’s station wear changed before driving, or a shower at the nearest station on the way.
• Clean station wear. Station wear worn under gear at a fire is contaminated. It is removed in the yellow zone and laundered in the station-wear machine, never in the extractor and never taken home after a fire exposure. Members keep a spare set at the station or in their locker.
• Laundering of gear. Bagged gear goes to the dirty side of the decon area. Hoods and gloves go to advanced cleaning after every fire exposure. Coats and trousers go to advanced cleaning after every exposure to products of combustion, by the Protective Clothing and Equipment Program rules. Routine cleaning on the dirty side only where a member’s second set is not available and the gear must return to service for a short period after a light exposure, with the officer’s decision recorded.
• SCBA and facepiece cleaning. The facepiece is cleaned and disinfected by the manufacturer’s method and the Respiratory Protection Program; the regulator exterior, harness and cylinder are cleaned; the unit is inspected and returned to service. Contaminated SCBA is kept on the dirty side until cleaned.
• Tool and hose decon. Hand tools, nozzles, appliances, thermal imagers, radios, flashlights, saws and ladders used in the hot zone are washed with soap and water, or wiped with the chosen cleaner where water would damage them, on the dirty side or in the bay wash area, then dried. Hose that was in the structure is washed and dried before reloading. Rope that was exposed is handled by the rope rescue program’s rules and may be retired.
• Apparatus cab interior decon. As in 5.3.
• Exposure logging. Before the end of the shift, or within 24 hours for a volunteer, every exposed member completes the Form - Exposure Report through the SWP - Exposure Reporting, and the officer completes the decon log for the call. The exposure report records the incident, the role and zone, the time in the hot and warm zones, SCBA on and off and whether worn through overhaul, the suspected agents, the decon done (gross decon, hood swap, wipes, shower within 60 minutes), symptoms, and the gear exchanged. The data fields and retention belong to the Occupational Cancer Prevention, Exposure Tracking and Screening Program.
• Operational readiness. The crew and apparatus return to service when the officer has completed the post-call decon checklist (T2) and every member has clean gear. The officer tells dispatch when the unit is available.

Evidence. The decon log; the officer’s checklist; exposure reports matched against the incident report for every working fire; station wear laundering in place. (S1)

Requirement. Every fire, hazardous materials and significant smoke exposure is logged per member, with the decon done, in a system the member can get their own history from (NFPA 1550, 2024, ch. 16). (S1)

Minimum method. The exposure record is owned by the Occupational Cancer Prevention, Exposure Tracking and Screening Program; this program feeds it. The decon log for the call and the member’s exposure report are cross-referenced by incident number. The {{Health and Safety Officer}} reconciles exposure reports against working fire incident reports monthly and reports the match rate. The JOHSC reviews the exposure log trends annually. The department physician receives exposure summaries before annual medical evaluations.

Evidence. Match rate between working fires and exposure reports; the JOHSC annual review minuted. (S1)

Requirement. Every station is divided into a hot (red) zone where contamination is likely, a warm (yellow) zone where contamination control takes place, and a cold (green) zone that is kept clean (NFPA 1550, 2024, s. 12.5); (NFPA 1585, 2025, ch. 5), with the boundaries marked, the rules posted and the flow of people and gear from red through yellow to green enforced. No protective clothing, contaminated tools, hose or SCBA enter the green zone. Station dust has been shown to contain fireground contaminants, which is why the boundary is physical and not a line on a plan (FSRI, 2025). (S1)

Minimum method.

Each station has a floor plan with the zones marked and posted at the bay entrance, signage at every zone boundary, and a transition procedure for members and visitors. Older stations that cannot be rebuilt get a retrofit plan through the Facilities and Station Safety Program: at minimum, a ventilated gear room out of the bay’s exhaust path and out of sunlight, a shower reachable without crossing green in gear, a boot boundary, self-closing doors and diesel capture. Station zoning is audited on the station inspection schedule using toolkit item T4.

Diesel exhaust capture is an engineering control in the hierarchy and is owned by the Facilities and Station Safety Program: source capture or vehicle-mounted filtration in every bay (NFPA 1550, 2024, ch. 12); (NFPA 1585, 2025, chs. 5 and 6), connected every time an engine runs, maintained on the manufacturer’s schedule, with a no-idling rule and monitoring for carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide where the hazard profile calls for it. Diesel engine exhaust is a Group 1 carcinogen (IARC, 2014). This program checks that the capture is used.

Evidence. Zoned floor plans; signage; zoning audit worksheets; retrofit plan where needed; diesel capture maintenance record. (S1)

Requirement. Apparatus, tools, hose, ladders and equipment used at a fire are cleaned before the next use and before storage in the yellow or green zones (NFPA 1585, 2025, ch. 9). (S1)

Minimum method. The post-call SWP covers tools, hose and the cab. The exterior of the apparatus is washed after a fire where it sat in the smoke plume. Ladders used inside or in the plume are washed. Thermal imagers, radios, flashlights and hand lights are wiped with the manufacturer-approved cleaner. Lifting bags, cribbing and extrication tools used at a vehicle fire are washed. Medical bags that entered a fire building are wiped down and restocked. Equipment that cannot be cleaned to a satisfactory state is tagged out and referred to the Equipment Standards team.

Evidence. Decon log entries; equipment inspection records. (S1)

Requirement. Decontamination after a hazardous materials exposure follows the Hazardous Materials, CBRN and Energy Hazards Program and its scene decon procedure; decontamination after a biological exposure follows the Infection Control and Medical Response Safety Program and the infection control chapter of the occupational health and wellness standard (NFPA 1580, 2025). This program applies to fireground contaminants and hands off at the point where the contaminant is a hazardous material, a biological agent or an unknown. (S1)

Minimum method. The incident commander decides, with the hazmat officer or the medical officer, which decon regime applies. Gear exposed to a hazardous material or body fluids is bagged separately, tagged with the contaminant, and goes to specialized cleaning or retirement by the Protective Clothing and Equipment Program element 5.9. Members exposed to a biological agent follow the post-exposure procedure in the infection control program.

Evidence. Decon log entry showing the regime chosen; the exposure report; specialized cleaning or retirement record. (S1)

Requirement. The same controls apply at training: SCBA through the evolution and overhaul, gross decon, hood swap, wipes, bagging, shower within the hour, exposure logging for every live fire evolution, for students and instructors (NFPA 1585, 2025, ch. 7). Live fire training exposes students and instructors, and the fuel package and ventilation choices change the dose (FSRI, 2025); instructors who attend many burns in a season are among the most exposed people in the department. (S1)

Minimum method. The Training Safety and Live Fire Program owns the fuel package policy and the burn plan. This program supplies the decon station at the training ground, the kit, the checklist and the log, and the instructor exposure tally reported quarterly.

Evidence. Training ground decon log; instructor exposure tally. (S1)

(a) Work-as-done. Procedures describe work as imagined unless they are written from work as done (Hollnagel, 2014). Before the on-scene and post-call procedures are written or changed, the team runs a learning-team session (Conklin, 2012) with crews from a career station, a volunteer station and the training division. The session describes: what really happens in the first 20 minutes after “fire under control” when the crew is hot, tired and being asked to pick up; who sets up decon and how long it takes to find the kit; what members do with their hood when there is no spare; where the wipes are and whether anyone uses them at 0300 in February; how the ride home actually goes (who rides in gear, where the SCBA goes, what the cab smells like); what gets in the way of a shower inside an hour (the next call, the shift change, a hall with no shower, a 40-minute drive home); which parts of the station the zoning plan says are green and where boots and hose actually end up; how the exposure report gets filled in and by whom, and what makes people skip it. The procedures in section 8 are written from that description.

(b) Capacity and margins. This work goes right when the kit is complete and someone owns restocking it, when the incident commander treats decon as part of the incident rather than something after it, when there is a second crew to pick up while the first crew cleans up, when the station has a shower that can be reached without crossing the kitchen in gear, and when the exposure report takes five minutes on a phone. What erodes that capacity: staffing that leaves no one to run decon; back-to-back calls; a 90-minute return from a rural scene; winter; kits that have been raided for wipes; a zoning plan drawn for a building that was never laid out that way; an exposure form that takes 20 minutes on a desktop; an officer who has not been told the shower hour is an out-of-service hour. The program protects the margin with kits on every apparatus and a named restocker, a crew rotation rule for overhaul, the out-of-service hour, the volunteer home-shower alternative, kit and hood stock as leading indicators, and an exposure report designed to be completed in the cab.

(c) Just culture. A member who took their facepiece off during overhaul, rode home in gear, skipped the wipes, carried gear into the kitchen or did not file the exposure report is treated as evidence about the conditions that made that the easiest thing to do (Reason, 1997; Dekker, 2016). The learning firewall applies: learning teams, decon logs, exposure reports, after-action reviews and near-miss reports are used for learning and never as the basis for discipline. Conduct concerns (a deliberate refusal to decon that puts others at risk, falsified logs) go to a separate process run by different people, and the line between the two is written down and told to members. When the department finds that most crews are working around a rule, the rule is the first suspect.

(d) Psychological safety. Psychological safety is the shared belief that it is safe to speak up, ask, admit error and challenge (Edmondson, 1999)DOI. Any member can say “I’m not taking my mask off yet” during overhaul, “we’re not leaving until we’ve bagged this gear”, or “I need the hour for a shower before we go back in service”, and can say so to the officer, the incident commander or the incident safety officer in those words. The expected reply is acknowledgement, action, and a note on the log; the member hears what happened to their concern within five working days by the route in section 11. Leaders show it is safe by doing decon themselves at the scene, by backing an officer who took a unit out of service for the hour, by reporting their own exposures, and by never calling decon “optional when it’s busy”. Station meeting norms include a standing item on decon concerns and what happened to the last ones.

(e) Learning link. This program feeds the After the Call tiers through the Incident Investigation and Learning Program. Tier 1 After-Action Review: every working fire and every live fire evolution. Tier 2 Post-Incident Analysis: a member exposed without SCBA in a post-fire atmosphere; a crew returned to service without decon because of a deployment pressure; a station zoning breach that put contaminated gear in a sleeping or eating area; a hazmat or biological exposure that needed specialized decon. Tier 3 Independent Learning Review: an acute exposure injury, or a serious illness the department believes is connected to an exposure control failure. The AAR questions a crew asks after a working fire: “When did each of us take our mask off, and what told us it was safe?” “What got in the way of decon, hood swap and wipes before we left?” “Did any of us go home or back in service without a shower and clean gear, and why?” For the full method see Manual 02 - The Three Tiers and Event Triage.

• SWP - On-Scene Preliminary Exposure Reduction
• SWP - Post-Call Station Decontamination
• SWP - Diesel Exhaust and Station Zoning (shared with the Facilities and Station Safety Program)

Shared with the Protective Clothing and Equipment Program: SWP - Bunker Gear Routine Inspection and Cleaning and SWP - Bunker Gear Advanced and Specialized Cleaning and Repair. Shared with the Respiratory Protection Program: SWP - SCBA Daily and After-Use Inspection and Cleaning. Shared with the cancer prevention program: SWP - Exposure Reporting. Hazmat scene decon: SWP - Hazmat Entry and Decontamination. Biological: SWP - Infection Control and Post-Exposure.

• Form - Decontamination Log
• Form - Exposure Report (owned by the cancer prevention and exposure tracking program)
• Form - PPE Cleaning and Repair Log
• Toolkit items in section 17: on-scene decon kit contents list (T1), post-call decon checklist for the officer (T2), decon log layout (T3), station zoning audit worksheet (T4), annual decon program summary (T5), training and competency sign-off (T6), quarterly indicator worksheet (T7).

The quarterly indicator worksheet is toolkit item T7. Indicators feed the quarterly update, the dashboard in 04 Baseline Metrics and Indicator Set and the cancer prevention program’s annual review.

Loop test. A volunteer firefighter reports on Monday that the hall’s decon kit had no hoods and no wipes at Saturday’s barn fire, so the crew rode home in gear. By Tuesday the kit is restocked, the restocking responsibility for that hall is named, and the gap is in the action log and the register as a P2 with an owner and a due date. By Friday she has heard back, and the district chief has checked every kit in the district. Within 30 days the kit inventory is on the apparatus check for every station, a change notice has gone out, and the item is closed with evidence in the quarterly update.

Checklist - Decontamination and Contamination Control is the audit category. The five questions an auditor asks first:

1. Pick three front-line apparatus. Is the decon kit complete against the list, and are there as many spare hoods as seated positions?
2. Pick the last five working fires. Do the decon log and the exposure reports show gross decon, hood swap, wipes, SCBA through overhaul and a shower within the hour for every exposed member?
3. Walk the station from the bay to the kitchen. Where is the zone boundary, where are the boots, and is there any gear, hose or tool past it?
4. Was the diesel capture connected when the last apparatus started in this bay, and when was the system last serviced?
5. Show me the last decon concern a member raised, who answered it, when, and what changed.

Accreditation crosswalk. For an accredited or candidate agency, the audit evidence for this program also serves the self-assessment: the on-scene and post-call SWPs, the zoning plans and the annual appraisal’s hierarchy table answer the exposure reduction and improvement process indicator (CPSE, 2019, criterion 11A.4); the near-miss and good-catch counts in the indicator set answer near-miss reporting used for shared learning (11A.6); the exposure report, the match rate and the After the Call tiers answer the investigation and documentation of exposures to root cause (11A.7); the SCBA-through-overhaul rule with monitoring and the incident safety officer’s checks answer risk management during operations (11A.8); and the kit, extractor and diesel capture maintenance records answer equipment maintenance and tracking (6E.3, 6E.4).

• Cancer is a leading cause of firefighter line-of-duty death as reported by firefighter cancer organizations (Firefighter Cancer Support Network, 2013), and occupational exposure as a firefighter is carcinogenic to humans, Group 1 (IARC, 2023). The department’s contribution to that risk is made or reduced in the hour after the fire. Every element of this program is built for that hour.
• Dose and duration matter. Gear off-gasses after the fire; the longer it stays on, the longer the skin is exposed; the cab and the station become secondary sources (FSRI, 2025). The sequence skin, PPE, apparatus, station is the evidence-based order.
• SCBA removed for overhaul “because the smoke is light” is the failure mode the respiratory protection requirement for post-fire atmospheres exists to prevent (NFPA 1550, 2024, s. 16.5.2). Carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide do not announce themselves. Monitoring before removal is the control.
• Doffing can matter more than hood design (FSRI, 2025). The doffing sequence in the SWP exists because of this finding.
• Decon done only when a decon unit arrives means decon rarely happens at the first-due station’s fires. Kits on every apparatus are the control.
• One set of gear means contaminated gear is worn to the next call or kept in a personal vehicle; the two-set rule in the PPE program and the loaner pool are the control.
• Zoning drawn on paper and not enforced (boots in the kitchen, hose dried in the day room) is the zoning failure mode this program is designed against. The boot boundary, the signage and the walk-through audit are the control.
• Exhaust capture installed but not connected or not maintained is the diesel failure mode. The driver’s connection check and the maintenance record are the control.
• Exposure reports filed only for injuries, so routine smoke exposure is never documented and a presumptive claim 20 years later rests on memory (J32 Workers' Compensation and Firefighter Presumptions). The match rate indicator is the control; the exposure report is a standard requirement (NFPA 1550, 2024, ch. 16).
• Command staff and investigators exempting themselves from decon undermines the whole program. The program names them.

Stage 1 minimum. The hierarchy table completed once; a decon kit on every front-line apparatus with a named restocker; the on-scene SWP in use with the hood swap, wipes and bagging; SCBA through overhaul with monitoring; the clean-cab rule in force on existing apparatus; shower within the hour at every station or the written alternative; a dirty-side decon area and a station-wear machine at each station; the exposure report in use for every working fire and reconciled monthly; every station’s floor plan zoned and signed with a boot boundary; diesel capture connected and maintained; the decon log and the officer’s checklist in use; the accountability table filled with names; the first quarterly update.

What Stage 1 costs. People: a {{Decon Lead}} at about half a day a week in a department of 100 to 300 members; two hours of training per member; the out-of-service hour after working fires, which costs apparatus availability rather than money and must be accepted in the deployment plan. Money: decon kits (a sprayer, brushes, soap, tarp, wipes, bags, tags) at a modest cost per apparatus; spare hoods at one per seated position per apparatus plus a restock; wipes consumption; zone signage and boot boundaries; a station-wear washer and dryer where a station has none; a shower retrofit where a hall has none, which is the one capital item; monitors for carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide where the department does not already have them.

Stage 2 adds clean-cab specification on new apparatus, zoning retrofit plans funded, cleaning verification through the PPE program, and all indicators reported quarterly. Stage 3 adds an independent review every three years, laboratory evidence of cleaning and cab decon effectiveness, and participation in a national registry where the department chooses.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.

Checked on every apparatus check against this list; expiry of wipes and soap recorded; restocked after every use by the {{Decon Lead}} or the named restocker.

Completed by the company officer; filed with the decon log; sampled by the {{Health and Safety Officer}} quarterly.

The full form is Form - Decontamination Log. Its parts: A, the incident (number, date, address type, officer by role, apparatus); B, members exposed (one row each: role, zone worked, time in hot and warm zones, SCBA through overhaul, gross decon, hood swap, wipes, shower time, gear bagged, exposure report filed); C, apparatus and equipment (cab wiped, SCBA cleaned, tools and hose cleaned, gear sent for cleaning and where); D, return to service (time, officer’s checklist complete, exceptions and reasons, concerns raised).

Score: items met divided by items applicable; the zoning audit score in section 10.

Attach: the year’s indicator trend (T7), the zoning audit scores by station, the exposure report match rate, the instructor exposure tally, and the open corrective actions.

Prepared by the {{Decon Lead}} within 15 days of quarter end; to the {{PPE Program Manager}}, the senior leadership team and the {{JOHSC}}.