VIDEO: Cancer is the leading cause of death among firefighters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, a team of Arizona researchers believes it might be because each fire they fight is changing how their genes work, making them more susceptible to cancer and other diseases.
While in the community, firefighters fight fires every day, it’s alongside one another they’re fighting something much harder.
“Each fire station in the State of Arizona, someone knows someone who just got diagnosed with cancer,” Bryan Jeffries, President of the Professional Firefighters of Arizona said.
Jeffries was one of those diagnosed in 2019.
“Not long ago I was in chemotherapy, I was fighting for my life because I came down with the number one cancer firefighters get, which is seminoma,” Jeffries said.