NFPA Journal - May/June 2017 - 35

| BRAVE FACE

GLENN PRESTON

Glenn Preston, with son
Jake, on the day last July
when doctors informed
him he had advancedstage cancer.

Sometimes the reality speaks for
itself. Since the debut of the video, at
least one of the stricken firefighters
interviewed, Mark Matthews, has died,
leaving behind a wife and two children.
When Finn visited him in the hospital
two days before his death, Matthews
asked his wife to leave the room. He
took Finn's hand and told him, "Don't
let my death be in vain."
Like all the cancer victims interviewed in the video, and so many other
older firefighters in Boston, Matthews
believed passionately in the new direction of the department. While several
firefighters told me there was still some
reluctance in the ranks to change, Finn
told me there has been virtually no
pushback from the department's veteran members.
"It has been just the opposite-they
understand. They know what we're
talking about. They've buried way too
many friends, and they've seen the
human suffering of the children and
the widows," Finn told me. "The challenge is the younger generation-they

want to prove themselves and act like
they've been here since 1965. It's up to
the company officers to step up and
make sure the younger firefighters are
following best practices. By being leaders and doing their jobs they're going to
save these kids' lives."

G

lenn Preston didn't have anyone
in his ear telling him about the
dangers of smoke when he joined
the Boston ranks as a 23-yearold rookie back in 2000. Nobody
during his training at the Massachusetts
Fire Academy so much as even mentioned the word cancer, he said.
As a result, Preston doesn't get out
to his old firehouse in South Boston
much these days. For months, his
schedule has been consumed by a cycle
of weeklong chemotherapy sessions in
the hospital, followed by two weeks of
recovery at home in Danvers, Massachusetts. But he was recently back in
a fire station with his old gear, and a
smile on his face, kindly stopping by
with his five-year-old daughter, Grace,

for a photo shoot and to talk
about his cancer with me.
After the shoot, still wearing his bunker gear, he was
polite but noticeably fatigued.
He needed water, he told me,
and instinctively started for
the kitchen. Then he abruptly
stopped. "I can't wear this
stuff in there," he said to
himself, even though his coat
and pants were clean and
hadn't been used in months.
A friend grabbed a glass of
water for him.
Later, Rich Paris stopped
me in the kitchen. "That right
there is what's different in the
Boston Fire Department," he
said, nodding toward Preston. "A couple
of years ago there'd be six guys lounging
around this kitchen with dirty gear and
helmets laying everywhere." Now, the
guy who just a year ago wouldn't use air
at a fire until he was choking on smoke
won't even wear his clean turnout gear
into a firehouse kitchen.
When I asked him if his cancer
diagnosis makes him resent the department or regret becoming a firefighter,
Preston quickly answered no. His fire
officers didn't know any better, he said.
He didn't know any better, either. In
his mind, it's nobody's fault. But now,
as he wheezes and looks exhausted
after an hour of light activity, he does
know better. That's why he made the
40-minute trek from his home to come
and talk to me, he said. He wants other
firefighters to know, too.
"I've been lucky to have this job,"
he said, as Grace crawled on his lap.
"These people have been there for me.
Maybe I can do something for them."
JESSE ROMAN is associate editor of NFPA Journal.

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

| 35
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - May/June 2017
