Firefighter risk of cancer to be studied

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Guy Roper, a district chief with Palm Beach Fire Rescue, was optimistic after doctors told him he was anemic.

“Guess I’ll just have to eat more meat,” he thought. But after a few more tests, he learned he had leukemia, even though he had no family history or risk factors. He was 33 at the time, and doctors gave him a 30 percent chance of lasting three months.

That was eight years ago, after Roper had a successful bone marrow transplant.

According to a 2013 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, firefighters have a higher risk of digestive, oral, respiratory and urinary system cancers than the general population. Statistics compiled by the International Association of Firefighters show that by the age of 60, twice as many firefighters died from cancer than heart attacks, the biggest killer among most Americans.

Now, the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center wants to find out why. And it is using the Miami-Dade and Palm Beach county fire departments as test subjects.

“We’ve got another firefighter battling leukemia just in my station,” Roper said. Two more are fighting multiple myeloma, a cancer that usually affects elderly people. But in this case, the firefighters are in their 40s.

“I’ve been on the job 34 years, and I can’t tell you how many friends I have that are either battling cancer or have succumbed to cancer,” said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Dave Downey.

While the reasons for high cancer rates may seem obvious – firefighters spend a lot of time around carcinogenic substances – there is no scientific data to back up that theory.

The cancer center will conduct several studies over the coming months, asking firefighters to wear instruments into fires that measure carcinogens, tracking chemical exposure in their homes, and testing them for carcinogens at their regular physicals. After an initial program in Palm Beach, they will test Miami-Dade firefighters and eventually hope to regularly test 90 percent of firefighters in both departments.

The partnership between the two fire departments comes as a result of both mounting campaigns to raise awareness about increased cancer rates.

In Palm Beach County, firefighters have formed FACE, Firefighters Attacking the Cancer Epidemic. The group has been trying to connect with departments nationwide to raise awareness and educate firefighters. To that end, Palm Beach Fire Rescue has been trying to change the culture of its department ahead of the University of Miami’s cancer screenings.

“Everywhere you go, it’s a badge of honor to have that distorted face shield, that blackened helmet,” said Palm Beach Fire Rescue Administrator Jeffrey Collins. The goal now is to change the culture so the heroic image of a firefighter is not one covered in soot and grime – and carcinogenic materials – but instead to look like knights in shining armor.

“We want it so that you can see us coming a mile away – glowing, radiating,” Collins said. “That’s the look we want to encourage.”

Although much of UM’s research will be new, such as the instruments firefighters will wear into fires, the main thrust of the study – cancer screenings at physicals – will be based upon the 2013 NIOSH study. That study, conducted from 1950 to 2010, tracked 30,000 firefighters in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco to determine that firefighters have elevated risks of certain types of cancer. UM’s study will be the first to carry out similar research in South Florida.