When firefighters respond to the scene of a fire, they’re risking far more than burns. They get exposed to cancer-causing components from the fire that can remain on clothing long after the fire is put out.
However, research at Oklahoma State University’s Textile and Apparel Science Laboratory is making strides to help protect them from that.
Their goal is to create nano-fibers that are initially almost invisible to the human eye. “But if I shut down the machine, shut down the roller,” OSU Ph.D. Student Ishmam Chowdhury said about their machine.
After Chowdhury shuts down the machine they use to make them, it comes into view. You could see a nano-fiber thousands of times thinner than a human hair.
Theoretically, though, it’s still strong enough to keep firefighters safe from cancer-causing components that they might come in contact with while fighting wildfires.
“It is so fine that it can trap all of the other fine smoke particles; it can trap the carcinogenic components,” associate professor Dr. Sumit Mandal said.
KFOR-TV NBC 4 Oklahoma City
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