The U.S. Senate has passed bipartisan legislation by Senator Sherrod Brown that would establish a voluntary cancer registry for firefighters.
Local firefighters who spoke to 21 News are hoping it becomes law, including one man whose father died from lung cancer after fighting fires for 27 years.
Pat Holcomb is a second generation firefighter proudly serving with the Youngstown Fire Department for four years now. He's lived the pain of losing a loved one to cancer. His father, Lieutenant Ed Holcomb fought fires for the Youngstown Fire Department for nearly three decades. He died of lung cancer in 2013.
"He was there for 27 years, and then throughout all the years of fighting fire, and you know when stuff burns the smoke and stuff is really, really bad so he developed lung cancer," Pat Holcomb said.
Now, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is urging the House of Representatives to quickly take up the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act and get it to the President's desk so it can be signed into law.