For the Record 8/15

A Mission to Prevent Cancer in Boston Firefighters

By Michael G. Hamrock, MD

Every three weeks, a Boston firefighter is diagnosed with cancer. Four active-duty Boston firefighters died last year from cancer, several more are critically ill with advanced-stage malignancies and five recently required surgery for prostate cancers.

Boston Fire Commissioner Joe Finn and Local-718 President Rich Paris are on a mission to better protect firefighters from the cancer-causing chemicals released from the smoldering flame retardants that coat most household items.

The Firefighter Cancer Awareness and Prevention Program—initiated by the newly created Boston Fire Department Safety, Health, and Wellness Division—places a strong emphasis on educating and continuously drilling firefighters on safety measures that will help minimize their risks for developing cancer on the job. It also holds fire officers more accountable for the health and safety of those under their command.

There are five key components of the program:

1)      There are now clear expectations that firefighters will be more diligent with wearing their breathing apparatus and hoods at all times while inside the fire building. To help with this endeavor, more comfortable and better-fitting customized harnesses for air tanks will soon be deployed. Once outside the fire building, firefighters will immediately remove the cancer-causing soot from their faces and necks with wet naps and do a quick field decontamination of debris from their bunker gear.

2)      In the firehouse, showers will be taken by members after every fire to more thoroughly wash away dangerous particulates and chemicals that remain on their skin. Strict compliance with hooking up the diesel exhaust vents will also be enforced. In addition, it is strongly recommended that firefighters do a vigorous workout within 24 hours post-fire to expedite the elimination of toxic chemicals through their sweat.
The Division has also partnered with the Last Call Foundation to purchase industrial strength washers for the firehouses. Firefighters will be expected to use these machines on a regular basis to more effectively remove carcinogens from the bunker gear. Hoods will also be washed after every fire to help prevent ongoing exposure to contaminants.

3)      A peer human performance training program has been initiated in each of the 34 city firehouses. This program promotes better self-care, healthy nutrition and total body functional workouts all designed to prevent injuries, heart disease and cancer on the job.

4)      Firefighters are strongly encouraged to undergo an annual Comprehensive Firefighter Physical Exam for earlier detection of high-risk cancers, which include oral, lung, colon, kidney, prostate, bladder, testicular and skin cancers. Many Boston firefighters have had early-stage cancers found by these screening protocols and have returned to fire duty after successful treatments.

5)      The Safety, Health, and Wellness Division has produced a video on the anguish and hardships that family members endure when firefighters are diagnosed and succumb to occupational cancers. This powerful film, which can be viewed at [url here], serves as a very strong motivating tool for firefighters to be fully compliant with their SCBA use and practice better self-care. 

Additionally, the Safety, Health, and Wellness Division has teamed with the Firefighter Cancer Support Network to provide in-service cancer awareness training classes for all of the members of the BFD.

A template for Comprehensive Firefighter Physicals that firefighters can take with them to their primary care physicians to ensure a thorough screening can be downloaded here.

Dr. Michael Hamrock is on the Board of Advisors of the Last Call Foundation and served as a firefighter and occupational physician for the Boston Fire Department.

NFPA Report on LODDs

NFPA reported a total of 64 on-duty firefighter deaths in the U.S. in 2014, making 2014 the third year in the past four that the total has been below 65 deaths. Dr. Rita Fahy, NFPA’s manager of fire databases and systems, detailed NFPA’s U.S. Firefighter Fatalities report at the NFPA Conference & Expo. The number of 2014 fatalities is a significant decrease from the 97 deaths that occurred in 2013, when two incidents combined to claim the lives of 28 firefighters.

Firefighter death rates have declined overall in recent years, with 2014 the sixth consecutive year that the total number of deaths was below 100. While the average number of on-duty firefighter deaths each year from 1995 to 2008 was in the low 100s, the annual average over the past decade is 83 on-duty deaths.

Despite the sustained decline in on-duty fatalities over the past several years, sudden cardiac death continues to claim a major share of the on-duty deaths annually. More than half of the deaths in 2014 were from sudden cardiac events, the highest number since 2008. The largest share of deaths occurred while firefighters were operating at fires (22 deaths), the second lowest total number of fireground deaths since this study began in 1977.

NFPA’s Firefighter Fatalities Report is available at nfpa.org.

Line-of-Duty Deaths

7 firefighters died recently while serving their communities. All seven of the deaths were health-related. Firehouse dedicates this issue to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Firefighter Dale Wege, 59, with Pine Lake, WI, Volunteer Fire Department, was found dead at his home on June 1, the day after he responded to a medical call. Death has been attributed to a heart attack.

Lt. David Knapke, 55, with the Williamsburg Township, OH, Fire Department, collapsed while operating at a structure fire. He was rushed to a hospital and later died at a hospice facility on June 5. The cause of death has been attributed to a heart attack.

Capt. James “Donnie” Keith, 59, with Mount Zion, AL, Fire & Rescue, was stricken at his home after responding to two emergency calls. He died June 4 of an apparent heart attack.

Firefighter Ian Haxton, 31, with the Veteran Fire Corps, collapsed near the finish line while taking a Wildland Firefighter Work Capacity Test in Idaho on June 6. Haxton had been serving at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Sasabe, AZ, at the time. The cause of death had not been determined at press time.

Firefighter Thomas D. Miserendino, 71, with Beachwood, NJ, Fire Department, was stricken after he drove an apparatus to the annual Memorial Day celebration. He died June 4 of an apparent heart attack.

Firefighter Wille O. Sensenich, 69, with Circleville, PA, Volunteer Fire Department, died June 9, several hours after responding to a structure fire. Death has been attributed to a heart attack.

Lt. Michael P. Miller, 45, with Green Bay, WI, Metro Fire Department, was found dead near his bunk in the fire station on June 20. The cause of death had not been determined at press time.