NFPA Journal - May/June 2017 - 33

months. Investments over the years in departmental infrastructure were few. Remarkably, the typical Boston firehouse
is now 76 years old. With the department just trying to survive, cancer wasn't on the priority list.
"It's like in sports, you don't win a game on just offense or
defense-you need both sides of the team to win that game,"
Rich Paris, the union president, told me. "We needed management and the union working together to accomplish this.
But that wasn't happening."
When Finn and Walsh came aboard in 2014, the infighting
eased. Finn, himself a former member of the union executive
team, met with Paris, and they agreed to work together to

devote as much time and as many resources as necessary to
combat the cancer scourge. Both men were worn out from
watching friends die and families suffer, Paris told me. Both
felt that the time for action was long overdue.
"Seeing firefighters in the hospital next to their families
and they know they aren't coming home, or hearing my
friends, these big tough firemen, cry and tell me they're
scared-it's hard," Paris said. "When I tell them, 'you'll be
alright,' I feel like I'm lying to them. There have been times
when I've said, 'I'll see you tomorrow,' and they die that
night. I wish I could show what that's like to the rest of the
department. There are no words to describe what that's like."

Fast Track
SOME OF THE NATIONAL EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO FIGHT CANCER IN THE FIRE SERVICE

sense of how to effectively clean their equipment to minimize
members' exposure to potentially harmful substances.

Ongoing work includes:

Firefighter Cancer Cohort Study
ffccs.org
Last summer, researchers from several institutions, including
the University of Arizona and University of Miami, embarked on a
30-year study to closely track hundreds of new firefighter recruits
from Boston, Arizona, and Florida. The study will provide researchers with detailed histories of each firefighter's career occupational
exposures and lifestyle choices and will be able to make the most
meaningful correlations yet between firefighting and cancer. All
previous fire service cancer studies have been retrospective,
guessing at participants' past exposure levels.

hile Boston's aggressive moves to curb cancer in its ranks
have gained widespread attention, other efforts underway
nationally also aim to curtail the firefighter cancer epidemic.
"I've never seen change happen as fast on anything in the fire service as it has on the cancer issue the last couple of years," said Pat
Morrison, the assistant to the general president on health, safety,
and medicine at The International Association of Firefighters.

Firefighter Cancer Support Network (FCSN)
firefightercancersupport.org
Founded in 2005, the FCSN provides one-on-one support and
counseling to thousands of cancer-stricken firefighters and their
families. The organization also distributes educational materials
and offers extensive firefighter cancer awareness and prevention
training across the U.S. In 2015, every member of the Boston Fire
Department went through FCSN's three-hour course.
Congressional firefighter cancer registry
Identical bills proposed in both the House and Senate call for the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop and
maintain a voluntary registry to track firefighters with cancer, and
also to collect specific information on the number and type of fire
incidents cancer-stricken firefighters worked. The hope is this data
will help researchers better determine the extent and causes of the
firefighter cancer epidemic. Both bills are now in committees.
Fire Protection Research Foundation study
on PPE cleaning
nfpa.org/PPECleaning
In 2015, the Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) embarked on a three-year project to validate methods for adequately
cleaning personal protective equipment (PPE). Although the
central question seems simple enough, embedded within it are
dozens of trickier questions: How clean does PPE have to be for it
to no longer pose a health risk? What types of PPE and PPE materials should be evaluated? What types of chemical and biological
hazards should be tested?
When the project is completed in 2018, it will be applied directly
to NFPA's main cleaning standard, giving fire departments a better

FPRF Campaign for Fire Service Contamination Control
nfpa.org/contamination
This one-year project led by FPRF seeks to identify, clarify, and
promote best practice information for contamination control, not
just at the fireground but for all that firefighters do. Controlling
harmful contaminants requires clear best-practice actions and a
rethinking of equipment, apparatus, and stations. In July, the FPRF
will host a two-day fire service summit with 50 leading experts to
review and enhance the educational materials being developed on
fireground contamination control, and identify gaps requiring further attention. With deliverables due later in 2017, the project will
promote important educational campaign materials in support
of a comprehensive mindset to reduce firefighter contaminant
exposures.
The International Association of Firefighters (IAFF)
iaff.org
The IAFF has had a robust campaign underway for years to educate its members on how to best protect themselves. The union
has a free online awareness program that teaches firefighters
about fireground carcinogens, reviews routes of exposure, and
informs firefighters on how they can reduce their cancer risks. The
cancer topic is now widely discussed at every IAFF conference and
meeting, and educational materials are sent out frequently.
"We are trying to get the message out through every kind of
medium we have," Morrison said. -J.R.

N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

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http://www.ffccs.org http://www.firefightercancersupport.org http://www.nfpa.org/contamination http://www.nfpa.org/PPECleaning http://www.iaff.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - May/June 2017