What is the Firefighter cancer problem?

Firefighter cancer is a looming personal catastrophe for each and every fire fighter. Cancer is the most dangerous and unrecognised threat to the health and safety of our nation's firefighters.
Multiple studies across the globe, including the soon to be released NIOSH cancer study, have repeatedly demonstrated credible evidence and biologic creditability for statistically higher rates of multiple types of cancers in firefighters compared to the general American population including:

■ Testicularcancer (2.02 times greater risk)

■ Multiple myeloma (1.53 times greater risk) 

■ Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (1.51 times greater risk) 

■ Skin cancer(1.39 times greater risk) 

■ Prostate cancer(1.28 times greater risk) 

■ Malignant melanoma(1.31 times great risk) 

■ Brain cancer (1.31 times greater risk) 

■ Colon cancer(1.21 times great risk)

■ Leukemia(1.14 times greater risk) 

■ Breast cancer in women(preliminary study results from the San Francisco Fire Department)

We are just beginning to understand the horrific magnitude of the problem,the depth of our naiveté, the challenges involved and the changes required in education, training, operations, medical screenings and personal accountability to effectively address cancer in the fire service.

The signs of firefighters' exposure to carcinogens are everywhere ask your self honestly have you seen or do you do any of the following : 

■ Photos appear every day of firefighters working inactive and over haul fire environments with SCBA on their backs but not masks on their faces.

■ Firefighters still proudly wear dirty and contaminated turnout gear and helmets. 

■ Some fire instructors wear their carcinogen-loaded helmets and bunker gear as symbols of their firefighting experience. 

■ Diesel exhaust,a recognised carcinogen,still contaminates many fire stations — apparatus bays as well as living, sleeping and eating quarters. 

■ Many fire fighters only have one set of gear which means they are continually re-contaminated from previous fires. 

■ Some diesel exhaust systems even when installed are not used or used incorrectly and are poorly maintained. 

■ Bunker gear still is stored in apparatus bays where it is bathed in diesel exhaust. 

■ Bunker gear goes unwashed for months at a time,even after significant fires. 

■ Many Fire Fighters carry their contaminated gear in the trunks of their personal vehicles, resulting in superheating and enhanced off gassing of contaminants into the passenger compartment and sometimes even into their homes. 

■ Fire fighters put their contaminated gear into the cabs of their apparatus both before and after fires. 

■ Some fire fighters still take their contaminated bunker pants and boots into locker or sleeping quarters. 

■ The interiors of apparatus cabs are rarely decontaminated.

■ Many fire fighters do not take showers immediately following fires.

Do You shower after a fire ?

Following the lungs, the skin is the body's second largest organ in area and it is highly absorptive. Some areas of skin are more permeable than others, spe- cifically the face, the angle of the jaw, the neck and throat and the groin. Skin's permeability increases with temperature and for every 5° increase in skin tem- perature, absorption increases 400%.

The most permeable piece of personal protective equipment is the hood. Hoods are designed to protect our head and neck from heat but are not designed to stop skin absorption through the forehead, angle of the jaw, the neck and throat.
Every firefighter knows that a lot of soot gets through their hoods, sits on sweaty, hot, highly permeable areas of skin, and then is rubbed into the skin as the firefighter is working.
Some cancer studies are also noting that firefighters are developing far more aggressive types of cancers, such as brain cancers, at a younger age than the gen- eral population, which provides further indications that the cancer could be a result of firefighting.

In the coming year IFESA is endeavouring to conduct for the first time a National survey of Fire Fighters both serving and retired Fire fighters to aid in a study of cancer and other causes of death among Irish firefighters.
We will need your help to do this.
This is not about what union you are in.
This is about helping all of us as Fire Fighters in Ireland to better understand the devastating effects on us and our families.It is in the interest of all involved to reduce the impact of cancer on the fire service through a proactive and aggressive approach by the reduction of exposure to carcinogens and the education of Fire Fighters to the risk involved.

IFESA Information