VIDEO: Layers of smoke, ash and debris: it's all in a typical day's work for a Tucson firefighter.
"It's more like a HAZMAT scene than sometimes it is a fire itself. Because all of the things that we build our homes with, that we fill our homes with, when they burn, they give off toxins that increase the levels of our exposures and then, ultimately, could lead to cancer," said Tucson Fire Department Safety and Wellness Division Deputy Chief, Darin Wallentine.
Firefighters are 9% more likely to develop cancer. That discovery was made with the help of the Tucson Fire Department. Their employees are at the center of a research study that has been conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NIOSH, University of Miami and the University of Arizona since 2014.