BOSTON (AP) — The California-based foundation of actor Gary Sinise donated over $380,000 to a Boston nonprofit to install industrial washer and dryer equipment in Boston fire departments to clean the firefighters’ gear.
The new equipment helps protect firefighters from burns and from exposure to chemicals that cause cancer, the Boston Firefighters Burn Foundation, whose mission is to offer support to burn victims, said on Thursday.
The donation from the Gary Sinise Foundation will cover the cost of purchasing and installing 10 washing machines and 32 drying cabinets in fire houses around Boston, the Boston Globe reported.
Currently, an outside cleaning company picks up and cleans the suits that firefighters wear to protect themselves when responding to a call.
It can take days for a suit to be returned, meaning firefighters wear spare or dirty equipment, the newspaper reported.
With the new equipment, multiple suits can be washed and dried on site within hours, Phillip Skrabut, a firefighter and treasurer of the Boston Firefighters Burn Foundation, told the newspaper.
Sinise is a philanthropist and actor best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance as Lt. Dan Taylor in “Forrest Gump.”
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