Maine firefighters put spotlight on cancer risks January is Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month
Goodwin’s Mills Deputy Fire Chief Ben Harris remembers removing his air pack after a carbon monoxide meter found no hazard at a fire call on Kennebunk Pond Road a couple of decades or more ago.
He remembers another firefighter suggesting he put it back on, because there could be other chemicals at play, and so he did.
Harris is fine, but the longtime volunteer firefighter learned through a recent blood draw – taken for a firefighter cancer study – showed the presence of PFAS, a group of chemicals once used in firefighting foam and found in an array of products. PFAS can cause health problems, including a higher risk of kidney or testicular cancer, when you are exposed to them.
“I scored super high in the PFAS that is found in (nonstick cookware),” Harris said.
When you work in an industry exposed to carcinogens, firefighters stress the importance of regular checkups and taking part in testing, all with an eye to early detection.
That is one of the reasons Maine firefighters – volunteer or “call” members, per diems, full-timers, and retirees – will soon take part in testing organized by the Maine Fire Chiefs Association to give them a baseline of information to pass on to their physician.
Roger Hooper, York County fire administrator, has been in the fire service since he started as a junior firefighter in 1978. He also scored high for the presence of PFAS in his blood.
“I have no health issues, but this is something to watch, and my doctor knows what to look for,” he said.
Hoope along with Saco Deputy Fire Chief Rob Martin and York Village Fire Chief Chris Balentine are heading up the York County contingent of the MFCA initiative to get firefighters statewide to undergo tests for cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The initiative comes after the International Agency for Research on Cancer linked cancer risk to the occupation of firefighting.
Hooper estimates about 100 York County firefighters will take part in the screenings, set to begin sometime this month. There will be tests conducted in York County locations and various other communities across Maine.
The tests, administered by United Diagnostic Services, include checks of the liver, spleen, kidneys, a bladder ultrasound, tests for testicular cancer, a pelvic test for female firefighters, along with an echocardiogram, carotid doppler, and aortic aneurism. The tests are $325. Some departments in Maine are picking up the cost, and those that can’t this year, will work on it for future years, organizers said. In some locales, employees are paying the tab.
“Cancer and cardiovascular disease are two of the ranking causes of line of duty deaths,” said Auburn Fire Chief Bob Chase, an MFCA board member who chairs the organization’s health and safety committee. He said retirees have called and offered to pay the fee themselves to be able to take the testing.
“The ultimate goal is we want to do this annually, to build data for the state of Maine of cancer occurrences and then go to Legislature and get funding for firefighter cancer issues to get covered,” said Chase.
Chase said the company conducting the screening is conscientious about keeping medical information private and that the person screened is the only one who gets the report. The MFCA, he said, will get aggregate data that doesn’t include names.
Firefighters put spotlight on cancer risks
The upcoming Maine testing follows other firefighter initiatives that have looked at cancer.
The Firefighter Cancer Assessment and Prevention Study that recently wrapped up tested 603 volunteer firefighters across the country - 91 of whom were Maine-based - and of those, 50 were York County volunteer firefighters, said Judith Graber, a Rutgers University professor who was the principal investigator for the study.
Blood and urine samples were collected from participants, and questions were asked of participants about response calls, cancer in their family, and personal habits like smoking, alcohol use, obesity and more.
Graber said she and others worked closely with fire service partners to design the research in a way that worked for them. Everyone who took part will get results, which was conducted to look at cancer incidences in volunteers.
“The idea is to give participants and fire departments actionable data,” said Graber.
Firefighters supporting firefighters
Farmington firefighter Stephan Bunker, a cancer survivor, is the state director for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network.
“(Cancer) is a subject people don’t like to talk about,” said Bunker.
He encourages firefighters who have a cancer diagnosis to contact him.
As well as helping individual firefighters, Bunker is available to host trainings on how to reduce cancer risk on the job and said he’ll “go anywhere, anytime.”
Bunker said firefighters need to get checked by a physician when they’re not feeling right.
“Firefighters are too likely to ignore the warning signs that something may be wrong,” he said – and noted if it weren’t for his spouse “who didn’t let me push off frequent headaches,” that turned out to be brain cancer, it might have been too late.
He has been cancer-free for 3 1⁄2 years.