72 Business Spotlight 2/2020 CAREERS & MANAGEMENT
Fotos: picture-alliance/Reuters/Eric Thayer; khoj_badami/iStock.com; privatand who knows what else. “There were
charred piles of just open cans, and lots
of burned-out cars,” he said — some with
bodies in them. “It was apocalyptic.” Af-
terwards, he said, “we got all new boots,
because ours were just covered in a lot of
toxic content.”
Scientists still don’t know what exactly
that “content” contains — and how toxic
it may be. “That’s always the 50-million-
dollar question,” said Morello-Frosch.
Fumes from anything and everything
that burns have the potential to cause
harm, but so do PFAS — a controversial
class of chemicals used in firefighters’
turnout gear — and so does the neon-
pink fire retardant that responders spray
over fires.Does firefighting cause cancer?
Researchers are working to understand
how exposure to noxious fumes and par-
ticulate affect firefighters’ bodies. A study
of nearly 30,000 firefighters from 1950 to
2009 by the National Institute for Occu-
pational Safety and Health found that
those who fight urban fires have higher
rates of certain types of cancers — includ-
ing lung and throat cancer, as well as tes-
ticular cancer. It also found that firefight-
ers experience 14 per cent more cancer
deaths than the general public.
Federal researchers are encouraging
firefighters across the nation to register
for the largest study to date of firefight-
ers and cancer. They’re also looking into
whether firefighters’ work affects their
risk of heart disease. In the meantime,groups like the San Francisco Firefighters
Cancer Prevention Foundation (SFFCPF)
are campaigning to slowly stop using
PFAS chemicals and develop better, light-
weight protective equipment.
Toni Stefani, president of the SFFCPF,
joined the San Francisco Fire Department
in 1974. Even though he often went to
funerals for retired firefighters who had
died of cancer, he and his colleagues didn’t
make a connection between cancer and
chemical exposure. Stefani himself was
only 49 when he was diagnosed with tran-
sitional cell carcinoma in 2001.Taking precautions
But fire departments are a lot more care-
ful now. “Hopefully, as we learn more, we
can develop new standard operating pro-
cedures that’ll better protect these men
and women,” Stefani said. In Santa Rosa,
California, after fighting the Kincade Fire
for days, Jeremy Pierce said he was aware
of these local and national conversations
about the physical toll of the job. He’s
taken precautions: he tries to keep him-
self and his crew upwind of smoke while
working. Afterwards, he makes sure to
clean off, the best he can, before going
back home. “I don’t want to expose my
family to anything toxic,” Pierce said.
Otherwise, he accepts the risks of the
job. “You know, nobody gets out of this
profession without some damage along
the way,” he said. “But there isn’t a fire-
fighter around who doesn’t have that
drive to help people despite everything.”
© Guardian News & Media 2019“ NOBODY GETS
OUT OF THIS
PROFESSION
WITHOUT SOME
DAMAGE ALONG
THE WAY”
charred [tSA:d]
, verkohlt, verschmort
fire department
[(faIE di)pA:tmEnt] US
, Feuerwehr
fire retardant
[(faIE ri)tA:d&nt]
, feuerhemmendes Mittel
funeral [(fju:n&rEl]
, Beerdigung
precaution [pri(kO:S&n]
, Vorsichtsmaßnahme
testicular cancer
[te(stIkjUlE )kÄnsE]
, Hodenkrebs
to date [tE (deIt]
, bis dato, bis heute
toll [tEUl]
, Preis, Tribut
transitional cell carcinoma
[trÄn)zIS&nEl )sel
)kA:sI(nEUmE]
, Übergangszellkarzinom
turnout gear
[(t§:naUt gIE]
, Einsatzkleidung
upwind of smoke
[Vp)wInd Ev (smEUk]
, gegen die Richtung,
aus der der Rauch wehtMAANVI SINGH
is a California-based
freelance journalist.