SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Outfitting a single firefighter in protective gear used to cost about $2,500.

Today, as departments scramble to protect their members from cancer-causing "forever chemicals," that price tag has doubled to as much as $6,000 per person - a compounding financial burden that is pushing small and volunteer fire departments to their limits.

For Terry DeGuentz, fire chief of the Bullard Volunteer Fire Department in East Texas, the math of modern firefighting is becoming increasingly difficult to balance."We do have a conscious effort to find the lowest level of PFAS-containing fire gear, but there is a significant price tag that goes along with that," DeGuentz said.