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| Photo by Ryan Morrill Surf City Fire Co. members show off the gear designed to keep them safe from fire and cancer. |
The fire service is a dangerous profession. Despite the likelihood of being injured or even killed, firefighters risk their lives to save people and pets from burning buildings and other hazardous situations. But it isn’t just the possibility of getting severely burned or caught in a structural collapse that puts these brave men and women in harm’s way.
The toxic smoke firefighters are exposed to on a regular basis can wreak havoc on the body, including a high threat of developing cancer. Studies have shown that there is a strong link between firefighting and an amplified risk for several major cancers, including testicular, stomach, multiple myeloma and brain cancers, among others.
“They’re showing that firefighters are having a higher rate of cancer than the general public, and the only thing that we do different from the general public is go into burning buildings that are smoke-filled. So my assumption is that they’re probably 100 percent correct,” said Raymond VanMarter, deputy fire marshal and fire training coordinator at the Ocean County Fire and First Aid Training Academy.
To help combat the rising incidence of career and volunteer firefighters who are being diagnosed with cancer, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and a bipartisan coalition of members of Congress are calling for the establishment of a National Firefighter Cancer Registry. The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act would monitor and study the relationship between career-long exposure to hazardous smoke and contaminants and the occurrence of cancer in firefighters to determine if there is a connection, as well as to improve protective gear and prevention practices.
“One of the challenges with not having a registry is that we’re not capturing as many of the numbers we really need to accurately portray where these trends are going, and that’s a problem,” said Cindy Ell, founder and president of the International Firefighter Cancer Foundation. “A lot of us are working off of what we’re surmising, and I much prefer to be working off of what we know.”
The registry, as introduced, would collect and consolidate epidemiological data presented by healthcare professionals associated with cancer prevalence among firefighters and make de-identified information open to public health researchers to increase leading research. It would also increase the understanding of cancer incidence and could possibly lead to the growth of more refined safety practices as more records are assembled. To ensure the success of the registry, its administrators would be required to talk with epidemiologists, public health professionals, clinicians and firefighters.
The statistics for cancer rates in the fire industry vary by region, which is possibly due to the differences in the building materials and the actual practices and the age of the departments, said Ell, a melanoma survivor who believes there is “definitely a good possibility” that her career-long exposure to toxins associated with fire service were correlated with her diagnosis.
“There are a lot of variables that go into this research. What makes it especially challenging is we’re dealing with any 15 typical cancers, if you will, that you see in the general population, but then we’re adding in a higher percentage of the cancers that fall into a 1 percent for rarity as well,” she stated.
In many of these scenarios, Ell said, the fire service does not necessarily meet those cancer cluster specifics. However, they do have a trend.
“We’re taxed with trying to figure out, ‘How do we classify this?’ So this is why a specific registry of specific numbers that would track by region is going to be so important to us in the future. It will give us those numbers to base the medicine, the science trends upon for future work and future study that needs to be done,” she stated.
Many years ago, the contents of a home were typically made from natural materials such as wood and cotton. Nowadays, fires yield more-noxious smoke due to the widespread use of synthetic materials, petroleum by-products and plastics, said Robert Luft, assistant chief of the Surf City Volunteer Fire Co. and EMS.
“A good way to think of these materials is that they are basically solidified gasoline,” he said. “When these materials burn and ‘off gas,’ they produce chemicals like benzene, formaldehyde and other carcinogens into the environment. We have to immerse ourselves in that environment to put the fire out, and those chemicals embed themselves in our turnout gear and eventually our skin.”
A 2013 study released by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that followed 30,000 career firefighters from major cities such as San Francisco, Philadelphia and Chicago between 1950 and 2010 noted that firefighters are twice as likely to develop digestive, oral, respiratory and urinary system cancers than the general population, Luft noted.
Exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide in a fire can be fatal, yet the presence of cyanide tends to be overlooked. Recent research has shown that cyanide is a major contributor to the thousands of fire-related deaths in the U.S. every year. Together, carbon monoxide and cyanide, known as the “toxic twins,” produce a very deadly gas.
“It’s a whole different world for us now than it was when I first joined the fire service,” said VanMarter, who became an active firefighter in 1983. “When you inhale that type of smoke, it doesn’t bode well for us to be able to recover from those things. This is what we’re finding out now.”
Last year, the Surf City, Ship Bottom and High Point fire companies purchased a total of 51 new Scott Air Packs (self-contained breathing apparatuses), which, Luft said, are arguably the most critical piece of personal protective equipment that a firefighter can wear since it is the first line of defense in shielding the respiratory system.
Having the same air pack as the other fire departments, which often work together at any major incident Island-wide, is advantageous because all members are accustomed to them. They also have the benefit of shared maintenance. The packs are the same ones also used by the Stafford Township Volunteer Fire Co., which provides Surf City with its Rapid Intervention Team coverage. The RIT rescues and removes a firefighter who gets into a life-threatening situation while fighting a fire, Luft explained.
“Having these firefighters using the same equipment as us allows for better equipment familiarization and thus a faster and more streamlined rescue aside from the conditions faced during the rescue operation,” he said.
The total cost of the packs was just under $400,000. Buying them jointly allowed the fire companies to save about $1,800 per air pack, Luft noted. The air packs were paid for by each fire company, which raises its own funds throughout the year.
“So far, all the fire companies are very pleased with the purchase and enjoy having the best equipment possible for their own personal protection,” said Luft. “It gives our firefighters a little peace of mind when they respond to emergencies.”
Every year, an average of 75 to 100 new firefighters are enrolled in the Ocean County fire academy’s recruit class in Waretown. The students are frequently reminded about the importance of properly wearing personal protective equipment, including a self-contained breathing apparatus, before going into any toxic environment, VanMarter said.
The equipment helps keep firefighters’ skin and respiratory tract safe from exposure. Years ago, firefighters didn’t typically use this gear during fire calls, said Surf City Fire Chief Michael Wolfschmidt.
“Unfortunately many have tragically learned how deadly this can be years later, due to lack of information being available to us,” he said. “It’s important to know that cancer is much like fire. It does not discriminate whether you are a career firefighter, volunteer firefighter or a civilian. Both fire and cancer will kill you just the same, no matter who you are. I personally believe the links between cancer and our occupation are absolutely real and associated with our line of work.
“It’s important to also point out that because modern items burn so much more quickly and violently, we, as firefighters, are responding to much hotter and dangerous fires today than in the past. We aren’t fighting the same fires as when my grandfather did,” Wolfschmidt added.
Properly cleaning fire gear after each use, which he noted wasn’t always a regular practice, either, is crucial. The Surf City Fire Co. is now assembling decontamination kits to carry in their apparatus. The kits contain a spray bottle of special PPE gear cleaning soap, a garden hose, scrub brush and baby wipes to clean soot off skin.
“This way we can quickly clean our PPE immediately following exposure at a structure fire,” said Wolfschmidt, who borrowed the idea from Westampton Township Emergency Services, where he works. “By removing soot and charred debris from our gear, bodies and equipment, we hope to lessen our exposure leading to cancer.”
Luft stressed the importance of also keeping the cleaned equipment in a separate room of the firehouse so the pollutants are confined to one area. To keep carcinogens from becoming embedded in car finishes and spreading to passengers, firefighters should keep their gear in a plastic bag or container if they need to transport it.
Luft said firefighters should never bring clothing home that has been exposed to smoke from a fire. He recommends washing it at the firehouse in a washer designated for dirty gear and clothing.
“The reason being is the carcinogens in the gear could be transmitted to the washer a firefighter’s family uses and thus transferred to the clothing of the family,” he said. “That is a horrible thought.”
Rinsing off in a warm shower for at least 15 minutes can give the skin’s pores time to open and release the hazardous particles, Luft added.
Eating well, getting enough sleep and exercising to reduce the risks of exposure to these chemicals as well as getting checked regularly for skin and other types of cancer is also pertinent, said Danielle Dunne, a member of the Surf City Fire Co., who attended training by the International Firefighter Cancer Foundation.
“I’ve been actively involved with a lot of firefighter wife groups, and this has been a big concern,” she stated.
Information about the connections between cancer and firefighting due to the contaminants firefighters are exposed to is now being highlighted more in courses, firefighting literature and support groups and through word of mouth. The registry has strong support from several major fire organizations, including the National Volunteer Fire Council, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Fire Fighters, New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, Congressional Fire Services Institute, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, International Fire Services Training Association, Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey, and New Jersey State Firefighters’ Mutual Benevolent Association.
“I absolutely support the registry,” VanMarter said. “I would support anything that could further the fire service and protect our members. Obviously we have younger people going through fire school now, much like I did 20-some years ago, and anything we can do for them, whether career or volunteer, to be able to serve their community and do it in the healthiest manner possible, obviously I would support. I think most of the firefighters would. We all have a love for what we do, and we would love to have people be able to serve it long and healthy.”
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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