MILLER

higher-than-normal rate from cancer. It’s a cancer they develop because they breathed or came in contact with the many carcinogens contained in the acrid smoke from burning buildings and vehicles.

Another reason to care is illustrated by the readers’ comments, which show that it’s an issue that touches many lives. Yet another is that, as taxpayers, we all bear some responsibility for the safety of our safety forces.

Firefighters didn’t talk about cancer prevention, many of their chiefs and other safety officials didn’t talk about it, and even national firefighters’ organizations didn’t talk much about it.

Then came Mark Rine, a young Columbus firefighter who developed cancer and decided that before it kills him, he will talk to as many people as possible about how firefighters are at great risk.

He will be among the speakers at our forum Nov. 15.

Others to speak will include:

Nora Jaegly of Toledo, who lost her husband, Firefighter Peter Jaegly, to occupational cancer in 2013. He was 49 and served as a Toledo firefighter for 20 years, two as battalion chief.

Missy Collier of Plain City, whose husband, Jeff, died of occupational cancer at age 40. After his death, she spent years trying to get death benefits so she could save the house where they raised three sons. She succeeded.

Cal Holloway, a Dayton firefighter whose occupational cancer was detected during a free skin-cancer screening. Holloway has had several surgeries to remove cancerous spots from his skin.

State Sen. Thomas Patton, a Republican from Strongsville in northeastern Ohio. He led passage of Ohio’s presumptive cancer law that took effect in April and allows firefighters and their families to file for benefits based on a diagnosis of occupational cancer.

Dave Bernzweig, a battalion chief with the Columbus Fire Division and director of health and safety for the Ohio Association of Professional Fire Fighters. He has spent years trying to get cancer-prevention measures implemented into the fire service.

Dale Schulte, chief of the Kalida Volunteer Fire Department in northwestern Ohio. He has worked to implement many safety measures for a department of 35 members that serves a community of about 5,000 people.

Firefighter Rine, 36, who has five children, gets in the faces of his fellow firefighters and tells them they could end up like him if they aren’t wearing proper protective gear, aren’t cleaning their gear, don’t have or aren’t using showers in their firehouses, work for departments that don’t have or don’t enforce safety protocols, or they are cavalier “smoke-eaters” who disregard precautions because of a macho, tough-guy culture that has permeated the fire service.

Many of those who hear the message that Mark Rine has been preaching have changed their ways. Some went for cancer screenings and learned — early enough to fight it — that they had cancer. Rine no longer rushes into burning buildings, but he is still saving lives.

“I’m no hero,” he says. “I’m just a guy with cancer.”