Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month sheds light on unseen dangers of the job
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Firefighters run into danger to protect us and fight fires. While doing their job, firefighters are exposed to chemicals that can cause cancer.
Previously: Fundraiser to support Virginia Beach firefighters battling esophageal cancer
“We don’t see the words cancer going across the atmosphere in a fire,” said Steve Weissman, Virginia state director of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. “We see smoke, and inside that smoke are many toxins and carcinogens. When they burn with the synthetics, and plastics burn in a house or a structure, they give off these toxins, and these carcinogens than are embedded in our protective equipment.”
Matt Gallina and his wife, Michelle, knew that the dangers of fighting fires was part of the job, but cancer was not at the forefront.
“They’re all really brave going in because most people run from fires, you know, are fires that go into them. So it’s just part of the job,” Michelle Gallina said. “It never really came up. I think a lot of that was kind of in the back of our minds. Maybe it was something that we always knew, cancer is always a possibility for anyone.”
Matt Gallina, a veteran Virginia Beach firefighter, did his part and made sure he did yearly check-ins.
“He worked out every day,” she said. “He was in excellent health and he has no history of cancer in his family and he does not have any co-morbidities at all.”
A department-wide blood test indicated something was wrong.
“He popped positive for pancreatic, gallbladder, stomach and esophagus. So, you know, that’s that’s where it kind of started,” Gallina said. “It turned out to be a small tumor, and the distal portion of his esophagus.”
Never once did she think this would be their reality.
“It’s still hard to swallow when it does affect people that you know and love,” Gallina said. “It’s hard because you don’t realize how much of a sacrifice they go through on a daily basis just being away from their families and running into burning buildings. You know, it’s very stressful for them, and then adding on cancer is also a double-whammy.”
Matt first started chemotherapy and immunotherapy locally. He is now getting treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He is going soon to get radiation as part of a clinical trial.
“Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are working for him. We’ve had multiple PET scans where they’ve seen a decrease in size, a decrease in metabolic activity,” she said.
Firefighters have a high risk of being diagnosed with cancer
Matt Gallina’s story is just one of many.
“Last year, 2023, I received 71 requests for assistance from firefighters who were diagnosed with cancer. … Out of the 71, specifically, 57 were firefighters,” Weissman said.
Firefighters have a nine percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer, according to the CDC and the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety.
That research also found that firefighters have a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer than the general U.S. population.
“We’re seeing more firefighters dying from occupational cancer than from putting their lives on the line during a structure fire,” Weissman said. “And years ago, it used to be the opposite. And now we’re seeing this terrible disease taking a toll on firefighters,” Weissman said.
According to the International Association of Fire Fighters, 73% of IAFF member line-of-duty deaths in 2023 are from occupational cancer.
“Any hazardous chemical worker … might be exposed to something that would trigger a mutation in the blood that could ultimately lead to blood cancer,” said Dr. Lee Greenberger, chief scientific officer and senior vice president of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.
Prevention
As we learn more about cancer and its link to the firefighter profession, there are ways firefighters and their departments can protect them.
“What we look at, and what we try to focus on, is bringing cancer awareness to fire service,” Weissman said.
The chemicals flying around in the fire stay on the firefighter gear.
“These carcinogens then are embedded in our protective equipment,” Weissman said.
He said firefighters need to decontaminate themselves.
“Firefighters, to do preliminary exposure reduction or decontamination, come out of the fire, rinse yourself off, wash it off with soap and water, clean up your skin,” he said. “And then when we go back to the fire station, take a good shower and clean up very well.”
Weissman added: “The Illinois Fire Service Institute, in cooperation with this National Institute of Science and Technology, did some studies on how effective just washing your turnout gear with just a little bit of soap and water, and almost 85% of the toxins are rinsed [and] washed off during a one minute wash. That’s all it takes.”
Another way to protect yourself as a first responder is early detection.
“This concept of prevention, just like for breast cancer and colon cancer, you can be screened early on,” Greenberger said. “That’s the concept of blood cancer. We’re no longer waiting till somebody gets the cancer.
“If you have those blood cancers, getting treated as early as possible is the way to long-term survival, and hopefully, cures because we have many therapies in our arsenal now that we’ve never had before in the last 10 to 20 years that we can give to these firefighters to hopefully control the disease, and/or eliminate it.”
That’s how Matt Gallina found out — an early detection blood screening that found abnormal results.
“That was so beneficial for us,” Michelle Gallina said. “We would have had no idea if he hadn’t taken that test. So that I’m very grateful for.”
FCSN has put together resources for firefighters for Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month. You can check out the resources by clicking here.
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