On the Receiving End: Being a Firefighter

Abstract

We, as fire fighters, know that there is a conclusive connection between firefighting and cancer. What presumptive legislation does is allow for the science to catch up with the deadly realities of firefighting. The modern era of plastics and synthetic materials has made firefighting more hazardous, in terms of toxic exposure to combustion products. Bunker gear is designed to protect firefighters from heat and burns, not from chemical exposures such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and so-called fire retardants, which are ineffective in practice but toxic. Uncontrolled diesel exhaust exposure has been present in every fire hall until very recently. Firefighters cope with the risks of the job, from the obvious dangers to the insidious ones of cancer-causing chemicals, by close relationships and by dark and often profane humor. We know that firefighting is very dangerous, but it does not have to be as dangerous as it is.