The Special New Cancer-Fighting Fire Truck — Too Many Firefighters Are Getting Sick

An increasing number of fires rage on the West coast and beyond, making cancer prevention for fire fighters, once barely discussed, an increasingly hot topic. The Clean Cabs concept, already adopted in areas including Miami, Lakeland and Coral Springs, Fla., Bernillo County, NM, Silvis, Ill., and Albany, Ga., are cab designs that keep contaminated gear — such as uniforms and self-contained breathing helmets (SBCAs), which inevitably retain carcinogens from the smoke at fires — outside of fire truck cabs, where they tend to be stored.

Additionally, seats are often made from materials that are easy to clean and don’t absorb the contaminants, and air filtration systems are installed.

Fire departments and unions have varying opinions as to the effectiveness of clean cabs. Some feel that placing the gear outside of the cab — which then tend to go in sealed compartments — slows down the response time, for instance.

Firefighter Cancer Rates

According to the latest data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Centers for Disease Control, firefighters have a 9% increased rate of cancer diagnoses and a 14% increased rate of cancer-related deaths.

According to a study the NIOSH conducted in 2010, which involved 30,000 firefighters in Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco who were employed since 1950, most of those cancers were digestive, oral, respiratory and urinary cancers.

The chance of lung cancer diagnosis or death increased with amount of time spent at fires, and the chance of leukemia death increased with the number of fire runs as well. There was also an increased number of mesothelioma diagnoses, a rare type of cancer in the lungs caused by asbestos exposure.

Aguirre also said that he hopes the new emphasis on cancer prevention will help encourage his firefighters to think of other ways they can lessen their exposure to deadly carcinogens.

The 9/11 Effect

SurvivorNet has spoken with many firefighters who have cancer because of their occupation.

Gary Howard, for instance, a retired lieutenant from FDNY Rescue Company 2 who responded during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, was diagnosed with cancer years later.

“It wasn’t until December, 2016 I started feeling a little strange,” Howard told SurvivorNet. “I was having problems swallowing. I was seeing different doctors out in Queens.”

Howard recalled that getting cancer during the rescue and cleanup had been a worry early on: “We had been warned prior to that going back to as early as December, 2001, when they started analyzing all the dust and the debris about all the carcinogens. And our chief medical officer at the fire department, he said to us, ‘We’re going to pay for this 10, 15 years down the road.’ And he was right.”

Another New York City firefighter we spoke with, Lee Ielpi, was a highly decorated retired member of the Elite Special Operations Company, Rescue 2. He was diagnosed with cancer after responding at Ground Zero, when he also searched for his firefighter son in the rubble after the attacks.

But many said they would put their lives at risk again. Regardless of his cancer, Howard said, he remains proud of his service. “I wouldn’t change a thing if I had to do it all over again. I’d be there,” he said.

 

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