Cancer in the fire service is a critical issue. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that firefighters have a 9 percent increase in cancer diagnosis and a 14 percent increase in cancer-related death as compared to the general population. While those numbers may not appear too startling, one must also consider that, while firefighters’ overall cancer diagnoses do not far outpace the general public, their diagnosis of particular types of cancers does. With that in mind, it is important for us to consider anything contributing to firefighter cancer.
The fire service has done considerable research to determine the causes of firefighter cancer. Among the causes are smoke, contaminants in our hoods and microscopic particulates left behind on our gear. Studies have been done to see how we may be spreading this particulate matter around apparatus cabs and the firehouse.