South King Fire gets $850K for decontamination equipment
Published 7:30 am Saturday, April 11, 2026
Congressman Adam Smith (WA-District 9) brought back over $12 million in federal funds for local projects, with $850,000 of those funds going toward decontamination equipment for South King Fire.
According to Smith, he secured $12.8 million in community project funds from his yearly request to the federal government’s appropriations committee from its discretionary budget. Of that $12.8 million, $850,000 is landing in South King Fire to purchase a CO2 decontamination unit to wash harmful chemicals off firefighters’ gear.
“First responders are very important, and keeping them safe is very important,” Smith said. “If they’re running around with contaminated personal protection gear, that places them at risk. This was a very reasonable approach to cleaning that up.”
Smith said local organizations — which are not private companies — send him funding requests, and he chooses which to forward to Washington, D.C. He selects which projects to request funding for based on their viability and the local support they have.
According to South King Fire communication officer Eric Kiphart, right now, the department has only a washing machine used exclusively for fire gear. Kiphart said that when responding to fires, firefighters’ gear is exposed to soot and chemicals that can cause cancer.
The science says that CO2 unit decontaminates fire gear much better than the washing machine does, said Kiphart, noting that preventing cancer also avoids costs associated with cancer.
“If somebody gets cancer, it’s very expensive. Treatment is very expensive,” Kiphart said. “So if a firefighter were to get cancer, it would cost a lot of money for the treatment, they’d be out of duty while they’re getting all the treatment. So you’re basically taking away firefighters that could be out on calls.”
Kiphart said alternative funding sources help South King Fire balance its growing operational needs against its budget, which is funded by residents.
