There are more than 200 chemicals in smoke. Whether it’s asbestos in old buildings or diesel exhaust, firefighters face carcinogens at each call including at trash fires, structure fires, wildland fires, vehicle fires and from secondary exposure to off-gassing equipment. Research showed that firefighters are more likely to develop respiratory, digestive and urinary system cancers than the general public. “We can change the culture for the young firefighters but we don’t know what’s primed in our pipes.” “We didn’t know these existed when we were young firefighters,” said Jennie, who started as a volunteer firefighter for the Orange County Fire Authority at Cypress Station 12 in 1986. In 2017, firefighter cancer deaths increased to 74%. In it, Frieders shared some alarming statistics, including that between January 2002 and January 2016, 61% of firefighter deaths were the result of cancer, according to the International Association of Firefighters. Jennie asked Frieders to make a presentation to the Laguna Beach Fire Department. In 2016, then-Laguna Beach Fire Chief Kirk Summers told Jennie about Bryan Frieders, now a division chief with the Pasadena Fire Department, who was then - and still is - the president of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. The research analyzed 30,000 firefighters who served between 19.Īs he reviewed the data, he recalled, he learned of more Southern California firefighters diagnosed with cancer. He found a study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that found firefighters had a 9% greater chance than the average population of getting cancer and a 14% higher chance of dying from it. But their deaths provided a greater sense of urgency. Jennie, who labels himself a “research dweeb,” was concerned about health and wellness before Rowe and Jensen got sick. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) Greater risk of cancer death “You look at all the hydrocarbon foams, coating, engineered lumber and plastics, and when they burn they become a toxic soup we’re baking in,” Jennie said. They are trying to raise awareness of cancer caused by ingesting toxins while fighting fires. Laguna Beach Engineer Chris Ornelas, left, and Fire Capt. “Back in the day, we’d have dirty boots and pants next to our beds so we could jump right into them.” “I thought, we really need to change the way we’re doing things,” Jennie said. Soot comes out of Engineer Chris Ornelas’ arm a month after he fought the Thomas Fire. Passionate about reducing firefighter exposure to carcinogens, Jennie has been on a decade-long crusade to change the culture of the profession, in which many still consider a soot-covered helmet and dirty gear a badge of courage. To Jennie, who has been in the fire service for 34 years, their deaths didn’t seem a coincidence. I don’t want anyone to go through what I saw Steen and Ron go through.” When he passed away, he was a shell of himself. Steen and I were both paramedics, I communicated with him until the day he died. “He was a class act, his death really affected me. “It was awful, Ron was the first captain I got to know,” said Jennie. From left, Laguna Beach Fire Captains Ron Rowe and Steen Jensen. Laguna Beach Fire Captain Scott Jennie was devastated when two colleagues both died from cancer in the same year.
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