KENT, Conn.—The specter of cancer looms large in modern life as we live surrounded by materials that leach carcinogens into our food, our water, the very air we breathe.
According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Cancer Society, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, trailing only heart disease.
Both diseases are a scourge for first responders who engage in stressful, physically demanding work under conditions that spew carcinogens into the environment. The scientific community first linked firefighting with increased levels of cancer in the 1980s and ’90s, an awareness that increased following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
But it has taken more than two decades for Connecticut to take steps to help mitigate the threat to its first responders.
Last spring, Governor Ned Lamont announced an expansion of screenings conducted under the state employee health plan or Partnership Plan, clarifying that all firefighters, regardless of their department’s size or pay structure, will have access to free cancer screenings every two years.
This is welcome news to volunteers in small fire departments, but the Litchfield County Firefighter Cancer Support Group and the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute have not waited for official action. They recently formed a partnership that offered free cancer screenings to about 50 area firefighters on Sept. 20.
Three Kent volunteers took part in the screening, including Kent Volunteer Fire Department Captain and EMT John Russell.
“In the fire service there is an expression that we have ‘250 years of tradition unhindered by progress,’” Russell quipped. “That sums up an attitude that was really pervasive until the 1990s, but now we are really starting to take cardiac fitness and cancer seriously and have begun allowing the culture to change to follow rules of safety and to make good health opportunities.”
Cancer survivor Dan Wuori, a 43-year veteran of the Norfolk fire department, helped spearhead the cancer screening. Before he discovered a lump on his chest in 2013, Wuori said cancer “was not talked about in the firehouse.”
Wuori, in remission for more than a decade, is now a mentor and advocate for firefighters diagnosed with cancer. Last year, he, Winsted Fire Chief John Field and retired Pleasant Valley Fire Chief Jim Shanley, also cancer survivors, formed the Litchfield County Firefighter Cancer Support Group.
Cases of firefighters developing cancer are well-documented, according to Dr. Peter Yu, physician-in-chief for Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute, who says firefighters develop “all kinds of cancers, but, for some cancers, like those of the bladder or the kidney, it’s doubled.”
The Litchfield County Regional Fire School was conducted by seven Hartford HealthCare physicians and medical assistants, including dermatologists, ear, nose and throat specialists, and gastroenterologists. The cost of the screenings was covered by donations from the Litchfield County fire companies and other benefactors.
Data about the disease is difficult to ascertain for rural firefighters. A recent report by United Diagnostic Services noted 146 high-risk findings out of 935 screenings done in eight Connecticut fire departments. Firefighters have a 14 percent greater chance of experiencing cancer-related deaths than the rest of the U.S. population.
Given the lack of early cancer screenings for firefighters, Wuori said the Litchfield County Firefighter Cancer Support Group decided it should create an event to raise awareness. The support group hopes to make cancer screenings part of firefighters’ annual physical exams.
While cancer screenings may be a new addition to the lives of emergency volunteers, Russell said that they are not the only precautions that have been put in place.
In 2023, Connecticut mandated that fire departments adopt a plan for maintaining and cleaning firefighter turnout gear to remove toxic substances. Kent has had its own “front-loading washers on steroids” since it built its new firehouse in 2009, Russell said.
“We probably didn’t wash an iota of gear until we had the new firehouse,” he said. “Before that it was kind of a badge of honor to get in your gear and have everyone see all the soot to show you were battle hardened. Now, if you do that and you get sideways glances.”
Indeed, firefighters are cleaning up their act even more, passing around face wipes to get rid of contaminated materials on their faces, behind ears and on throats.
“After a real fire, when we get really contaminated, no air packs or equipment is permitted in the trucks unless it is bagged,” Russell said. “You get out of your gear and throw it into garbage bags. We actually prefer to have it in the open bed of a pickup truck.”
Even the gear itself is a source of potential danger to first responders. As the materials get hot, they can off gas Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), a class of fluorinated chemicals known as “forever chemicals,” and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) increasing the likelihood of developing cancer, especially testicular, kidney and thyroid cancers.
Proper decontamination and safe storage of the equipment help to reduce the danger and efforts are underway to eliminate or reduce these chemicals in the gear.
Firefighters have long used respirators when entering burning structures, but Russell said that increasingly firefighters are continuing to wear them when outside.
Hydrogen cyanide is a highly toxic, colorless gas responsible for many smoke inhalation deaths in residential and industrial fires.
“Of course, it is a very trace element, but you don’t need a lot of cyanide in the air,” said Russell. “They are developing gas meters that can detect it. When you hear about people being hospitalized because of smoke inhalation, it’s not really the smoke.”
The Litchfield County Firefighter Cancer Support Group is open to all Litchfield County firefighters interested in sharing their cancer experiences. It meets monthly via Zoom or at the at the Litchfield County Regional Fire School, 606 Burr Mountain Road, Torrington.
The group has more than 20 members.
For more information, call 860-482-7717.
To view photographs of a recent Kent Volunteer Fire Department drill consisting of a mock car accident and live fire, click here.
