Partnership teams firefighters, cancer experts

Jeff Cowley, a Sedgwick County firefighter, dealt with a cancerous tumor on his kidney.

Tom Richardson, a county fire lieutenant, overcame prostate cancer.

Richard Janne, a retired county fire lieutenant, endured skin cancer on his neck, and his wife, Nicki, died from what began as breast cancer.

National studies have shown that firefighters, who may be exposed to hazardous materials as part of their job, face an increased cancer risk. A partnership between the Kansas chapter of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network and the Via Christi Cancer Institute has been established to inform firefighters on how to lower the risk.

Much of the effort focuses on regular cleaning and switching out of firefighting gear that can be exposed to carcinogenic byproducts of fires.

It makes sense to team fire experts with cancer experts, said Tim Millspaugh, a retired Sedgwick County fire marshal/deputy chief who is Kansas director of the support network. One of the goals is to gather data on how widespread cancer is among firefighters in the Wichita metro area, then gather statewide data.

National findings

A study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, focusing on 30,000 firefighters in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, found higher cancer rates among the firefighters than in the general population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, published in 2013, found higher rates of respiratory, digestive and urinary-system cancers among the firefighters.

According to the CDC, the study helps explain a “relation between firefighting and cancer.” When a crew fights a fire, its members are exposed to combustion byproducts that are known or suspected to cause cancer, including benzene and formaldehyde. They can come in contact with asbestos in debris of older buildings. The agency noted that other factors can figure into the risk of cancer, including diet, smoking and use of alcohol.

A 2013 paper by the Firefighter Cancer Support Network said the typical house now burns faster and is akin to a “hazmat event” because plastics and synthetics have become so prevalent in household goods and furnishings. It means firefighters can encounter “increased concentrations of highly carcinogenic agents,” the paper said.

Carcinogens, the paper said, take two primary paths into firefighters’ bodies: through their lungs and through their skin. The most permeable areas of the skin are the face, the angle of the jaw, the neck, the throat and the groin, and absorption increases dramatically as the skin temperature rises, the paper said.

The paper recommended 11 immediate protective actions, including wearing the self-contained breathing apparatus from the first attack of a fire through the “overhaul” period where crews look for hidden fires; using wipes, immediately and while still on the scene, to clean soot from the head, neck, jaw, throat, underarms and hands; changing and washing clothes right after a fire and thoroughly showering; and cleaning gear such as gloves, hood and helmet immediately.

Another recommendation, which applies particularly to volunteer crews, is to not take contaminated gear home or store it in a personal vehicle, the paper said. Contaminated gear can emit gases or leave residue that could lead to firefighters’ families being exposed, the document said.

Awareness is goal

Millspaugh, the retired fire official now with the cancer support network, said, “We’re not pointing the finger at any fire department. … None of them want their people to get cancer from the job.”

Still, awareness is relatively new in this part of the nation, he said. And there are limitations. Cleaning and switching out equipment costs more money, partly because it requires having extra gear as back-up, Millspaugh said. The approximate cost for protective gear worn by a firefighter, not including the air pack, is $2,500, he said.

Sedgwick County fire Chief Tavis Leake said his crews’ gear, if it is heavily exposed to a fire, is washed after each fire call to extract soot and possible contaminants. The department follows national standards on cleaning of gear and uses an industrial washer designed for the fire service, he said. If gear is damaged, it has to be repaired or replaced and is cleaned on a schedule regardless of whether it has been used during a fire, Leake said.

Five new stations have an exhaust fan to vent the gear-storage room, he said.

“So we’re taking the steps to try to be as safe as possible,” Leake said.

Wichita fire Capt. Kelly Ross said his department requires, at a minimum, that gear including the coat, pants and hood be cleaned twice a year. There is no way to completely eliminate contact with smoke and other combustion byproducts, but the goal is to minimize it, said Ross, who is with the department’s safety/training division.

A car fire, for example, can give off all kinds of contaminants as plastics and other materials burn. That’s why crews wear breathing apparatus.

In the “old days,” firefighters kept their gear by their fire station beds. Now, he said, the department discourages the practice so as to keep potential contaminants away from the sleeping area. Crews are reminded to look out for one another and not linger in dirty gear, he said.

The Wichita department wants to do “everything we can do to reduce the risk,” Ross said.

Some experiences

Cowley, a 53-year-old Sedgwick County firefighter who has been with the department for 30 years, worked on the hazardous materials team from 1996 to 2002. In 2012, he had a physical that included a blood work-up showing an irregularity in his kidney function. Further examination detected a tumor on one of his kidneys. The tumor hadn’t spread, and surgery removed it.

Cowley, who is a member of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, said he wonders whether his firefighter work might have contributed to his cancer.

Richardson, a county fire lieutenant who has been in the fire service for almost 30 years, said there had been no cancer history in his family. From what began as a normal checkup when he was 51, about a year and a half ago, he learned he had advanced prostate cancer. He underwent surgery, and, at age 53, he is doing fine.

Richardson said he is lucky his doctor caught it, because he had no symptoms. It’s why he encourages people to get an annual check-up.

Richardson said he feels his department is doing an “outstanding job” of keeping firefighters in clean gear.

Janne, the 59-year-old retired county fire lieutenant, said his wife, Nicki, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. The cancer spread to her bones, and she died in November. “She was fighting to the very day she died,” he said. They had been married since 1991.

Part of the concern is that family members could be exposed to carcinogens if firefighters come home with contaminants on themselves or their clothing. Janne said he always took his uniform off in the garage before stepping into the house.

Nicki didn’t attribute her cancer to his work, he said. Still, he said, “It’s a question in the back of your mind.”

He had been with the county fire department for 34 years. He says he never smoked, never tried drugs, never drank alcohol. Then he got melanoma. It started with a lump. His wife “nagged” him to get it checked out, and a biopsy found it was cancerous. It had remained encapsulated and did not spread. “I caught it early,” Janne said. It was removed in early 2014.

Janne said he suspects the melanoma came from his body absorbing carcinogens he was exposed to in firefighting.

For years, cancer among firefighters wasn’t discussed much, he said. “Well, now it’s openly talked about.”

When he talks to firefighters about the risks, he said, “you can see these light bulbs go on.”

“We just want to put it out there,” Janne said.

“If I can help just one person.”