Fire Departments

Structural firefighting exposes turnout gear — the coat, pants, gloves, and hood a firefighter wears into a fire — to soot, combustion byproducts, and other contaminants that do not come out in a home washing machine. The National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 1851 standard, along with turnout gear manufacturers and OSHA's bloodborne pathogen rules, all point to the same conclusion: contaminated gear has to be cleaned in equipment built for the job, not run through the machine in the station kitchen or taken home to a family's laundry room. ALCO Services supplies, installs, and services the commercial washer-extractors that make that possible.

The contamination on a set of turnout gear is not cosmetic. Soot and the hydrocarbons picked up at a structure fire carry known carcinogens, and gear that has been through a working fire can also carry bloodborne pathogens if a firefighter has been in contact with an injured person. A home washer is not designed to extract water at the rate turnout gear's heavy, multi-layer construction needs, and it is not built to handle that load without cross-contaminating whatever else goes through the same machine afterward. Departments typically keep gear cleaning on dedicated commercial equipment, separate from station linens, uniforms, and other laundry, specifically to avoid carrying that contamination into anything else the machine touches.

ALCO carries commercial washer-extractors sized and built to handle the volume and weight of turnout gear, along with B&C Technologies' Fire Dryer Drying Cabinet — a specialty cabinet dryer built specifically for drying PPE and turnout gear, rather than repurposing a standard tumble dryer that was never designed for it. As a factory-authorized distributor, we help departments select equipment that fits their call volume and station layout, whether that means a single extractor for a smaller volunteer department or a dedicated gear-cleaning room for a larger metro department running multiple shifts.

Buying the right machine is only half the job. ALCO's factory-trained technicians install and service the equipment we sell, and we keep a local parts inventory so a down extractor does not sideline a department's gear-cleaning program while a part ships from out of state. We also help departments plan financing that fits how municipal and volunteer departments actually purchase equipment, rather than running everyone through a one-size-fits-all commercial sales process.

ALCO is a factory-authorized distributor for several major commercial laundry brands, including Huebsch and B&C Technologies, and we help departments compare washer-extractor options across those lines rather than pushing a single brand regardless of fit. A department's call volume, gear inventory, and available utility capacity — water pressure, drain sizing, electrical service — all factor into which extractor and dryer combination makes sense, and we walk through those specifics as part of a free in-house consultation before any equipment is ordered.

ALCO sells both new and refurbished commercial laundry equipment, and for gear-cleaning specifically we typically steer departments toward new equipment. New extractors carry full manufacturer warranty coverage and tend to run more efficiently on water and energy than an older refurbished unit, which matters on a machine that may run daily loads of heavy, water-absorbent gear. Where budget is tight, refurbished equipment can still make sense — we will tell a department honestly which option fits its situation rather than defaulting to whichever is easier to sell.

If your department is outfitting a new station, replacing an aging extractor, or building out a dedicated gear-cleaning room for the first time, ALCO Services can walk through the equipment, the space, and the budget with you before you commit to anything. We have served fire departments and other public-safety facilities across the Central Valley since 1971, and we are glad to talk through what your department actually needs rather than what is easiest for us to sell.