Goodwin’s Mills Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Ben Harris advocates for for cancer screening for firefighters. Courtey photo
Goodwin’s Mills Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Ben Harris remembers removing his air pack after a carbon monoxide meter found no hazard of that sort 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 okay, 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.
“I scored super high in the PFAs that is found in (nonstick cookware),” Harris said. He is well, but it is something to watch.
A careful watch is vital because when it comes to cancer, early detection is said to be everything.
When you work in an industry that was named a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization in July 2022, the importance of regular checkups and taking part in testing, all with an eye to early detection, could well be a lifesaver.
And that is why there are opportunities on the horizon for Maine firefighters — volunteer or “call” members, per diems, full-timers, and retirees — who will soon be able to take part in testing organized by the Maine Fire Chiefs Association that will give them a baseline of information to pass on to their physician.
January is Firefighter Cancer Awareness month.
York County Fire Administrator Roger Hooper, in the fire service since he started as a junior firefighter in 1978, 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.
Hooper, Saco Deputy Fire Chief Rob Martin, and York Village Fire Department 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.
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 in various other communities across Maine — 12 in all, said Auburn Fire Chief Bob Chase, who estimated about 300 firefighters will take part in this initial offering. The tests, administered by United Diagnostic Services LLC, 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 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. He said he was able to participate in a test that his doctor could not have prescribed under current health plans. He said he had a finding that will require continued monitoring.
“Now because of the screening I got, I now have a medical diagnosis and my doctor can order continued monitoring,” said Chase.
He said the company doing 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.
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, there were questions that asked everything from the number of calls firefighters responded to in a given time period, to 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 specifically to look at cancer incidences in volunteers.
“The idea is to give participants and fire departments actionable data,” said Graber. As well, a toolkit is being designed to centralize online resources about cancer prevention in the fire service.
Ogunquit Fire Chief Russell Osgood said he has lost a couple of young firefighter friends to cancer. He said screening is important. Courtesy photo
The conversation about firefighting and cancer has been ongoing for some time. It began for Ogunquit Fire Chief Russell Osgood, who was working for Portsmouth, New Hampshire Fire Department about a dozen years ago when he lost two friends and coworkers to cancer. Sarah Fox, 40, died of cancer in December 2011 and Jeff Bokem, 39, in May 2012.
“We can’t put a finger om a cause, but a lot of firefighters get aggressive cancers at young ages,” he said. Osgood said the IARC’s designation of firefighting as a Group 1 carcinogen is an important statement.
Osgood pointed out that cancer might come from elsewhere but in firefighting, “you could make a pretty good assumption of it being occupationally related.”
These days, Osgood is vice president of Education, Research and Outreach for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network.
Farmington firefighter Stephan Bunker, a cancer survivor himself, is state director for the FCSN.
“(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 urged those in the industry to sign up with the National Firefighter Registry http://tinyurl.com/2bmdwkrz. And he pointed out that 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 ½ years.
In the fire service 45 years, and involved with the Maine State Fire Commission, Bunker took part in an effort in the last state legislative session that saw a bill pass authorizing $250,000 for a mini-grant program to help small communities purchase washing machines specifically designed to handle firefighting gear.
Osgood, Hooper, Harris, and Bunker all noted the importance of firefighters doing as much as they can to rid their gear and their bodies of soot as soon as they can. They recommend the use of baby wipes to remove soot from their head, neck face and hands and their gear right at the scene, to wash turnout gear at the station in a machine designed for the purpose, and to get into the shower and get rid of all that soot.
And they recommend taking part in the upcoming ultrasound diagnostic testing.
Harris, who began as a junior volunteer firefighter with the Goodwin’s Mills Department that serves Dayton and Lyman at 14, is now 42. The department has five full-timers, a couple of live-in fire science students and a number of volunteers, like him. By day he is principal at Jameson Elementary School in Old Orchard Beach. He lives on the family farm in Dayton.
His service with the fire and rescue department runs deep, as it does with many firefighters across Maine and so when the opportunity came along to be part of the studies on firefighter health, Harris signed up for the CAPS study, another through the University of Massachusetts, and will take part in the Maine Fire Chiefs Association ultrasound diagnostic testing study.
He noted his department has a gear-washing machine, so firefighters don’t have to load dirty soot-laden turnout gear into their car and wash it at home. He said remembers the year his father, Bill Harris, stood up at the 1999 Town Meeting to advocate for showers at the fire station — the measure passed.
“There is a lot of tradition and pride in firefighting,” said Harris. “If our group can leave a legacy around what this means — to understand cancer — it would be amazing.”
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