VIDEO: Back in January, during the Palisades Fires, 13 News told you about research that the University of Arizona and Tucson Fire Department were doing to help reduce the risk of cancer in firefighters. And now they have those results, and itโs exactly what researchers feared.
The firefighters who helped fight those massive urban fires were found to have developed physiological changes that may increase their risk of not just cancer, but other diseases as well.
โThese results are extremely important; theyโre scary at the same time,โ said research liaison and TFD Captain John Gulotta. He said the TFD and the U of A have been the tip of the spear in terms of cancer research in firefighters, and the Palisades Fires were truly a once-in-a-lifetime scenario.
โItโs not just our day-to-day, room and contents fires that accumulate over time,โ Gulotta said. โThis is a big event that had high exposure over a greater, shorter period of time, but a lot greater exposure.โ
