Series shows silent killer can claim firefighters

The hero status of firefighters in society rose after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

They’ve always been community heroes, in a sense, because they rush into burning buildings as others run away. But on 9/11 and the days after, the world saw 343 New York firefighters die instantly when the skyscrapers fell, and we watched as their comrades picked through the rubble for survivors.

For the dead, we saw a massive outpouring of sympathy on display in long funeral processions led by bagpipers and flanked by firefighters in dress uniform.

Fact is, the majority of firefighters who die from work-related causes do not perish in a fire, building collapse or even by heart attack.

In a five-day series that begins on Page 1 today, The Dispatch shows that far more firefighters are taken by a silent killer that possibly could be stopped: cancer.

There are no TV funeral processions for them. They typically fade from the job and then from life.

But not Mark Rine. He is going out fighting for his fellow firefighters — fighting for better safety practices, for better training, for more resources to protect our community heroes from a fate sealed for him when he learned he had terminal skin cancer.

Rine’s life as a Columbus firefighter and, now, anticancer crusader, is a thread that runs through this series. He and his family, and the Columbus Fire Division, graciously allowed Dispatch reporters Mike Wagner and Lucas Sullivan into their lives to tell this story.

The reporters also conducted a first-of-its-kind survey of firefighters and chiefs that reveals startling insights into the training and safety equipment provided to firefighters.

“The primary goal of this series is to illuminate for the public that the people they revere as community heroes are dying at a high rate from cancer,” Wagner said. “And it also shows that the flameretardant products and other chemicals in buildings and many products we all live with — some of them being the very substances that they thought would protect firefighters — are actually killing them.”

Not only are we losing firefighters, but we as taxpayers also are paying millions of dollars for their health care or to care for their survivors.

The series raises questions about the moral and financial liabilities for taxpayers, such as whether we could save lives and money by investing in better training and safety equipment for firefighters.

For some departments, particularly those with aging facilities, small budgets and volunteer manpower, some of the solutions include something as simple as a shower in the firehouse.

Why? Because the toxic, potentially cancer-causing chemicals that rise with smoke from a fire end up seeping into firefighters’ protective clothing and their skin. Best practices call for them to get out of their gear and shower as soon as possible after a fire. Ideally, they’d

also have a second set of gear so that after each fire, a clean set of gear would be available for the next alarm while the dirty gear is cleaned.

Another relatively lowcost solution is to train firefighters to protect themselves better. Rine is doing that with his one-man roadshow and a mission to reach as many firefighters as possible while he’s also fighting for his own life. He is particularly interested in reaching the newest members of the fire brigade to try to change a macho mindset among firefighters.

The “old heads,” as veteran firefighters are affectionately called, have lived a toughguy life of “smoke-eating,” and don’t always wear their

protective gear as they should.

Rine will die trying to change that mindset. But reporters Wagner and Sullivan have seen evidence that his anti-cancer crusade is working.

While reading the series this week, particularly if you are reading it in print, please take time to visit Dispatch. com/unmasked, an elegant presentation prepared by online producer Rachel Kilroy. You’ll see slideshows and videos by photographer Doral Chenoweth III, as well as audio clips (available as podcasts), that allow you to see the people you are reading about and hear their stories in their own words.

Among them is Rine,

who, rather than fade from the fire service and life, has transformed himself with the blessing of his family and supervisors to continue saving lives in a new way.

“You’ll hear from people we interviewed who said they wouldn’t be here today if not for Mark Rine and his message,” Wagner said, “because they got screened and found cancer early enough to beat it, or because they now know the dangers of firefighting and protect themselves better.”

Another strong message in the series is that Rine can’t do this alone.