Pasco County Fire Rescue will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for Fire Station 9, the first in Tampa Bay to be specially designed to reduce cancer risks for firefighters.
The program will be held on Tuesday, April 27, at 9 a.m.
Located at 11425 Silver Palm Blvd. in Land O' Lakes, Station 9 is a 16,046-square-foot state-of-the-art four-bay fire station with features to protect the health of firefighters. It's the first fire station in Pasco County to feature a hot, warm and cold zone design aimed at reducing firefighter cancer rates. The zones allow firefighters to clean carcinogens off their bodies before they enter the living quarters of the fire station.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recently undertook two large studies focused on firefighter cancer and concluded that firefighters face a 9 percent increase in cancer diagnoses, and a 14 percent increase in cancer-related deaths, compared to the general population in the U.S.