Firefighters sign up for the job knowing it is a dangerous profession. But the day-to-day tasks are proving to become a silent killer within the fire service industry.
A growing body of research and data shows the toxins and other job-related exposures have resulted in chronic illnesses, especially when it comes to cancer.
Firefighters are four more times likely to contract cancer and nearly 70 percent of line-of-duty deaths in 2017 were caused by cancer throughout the country. As times have changed, fires have started to change as well, creating more toxic fumes.
“The way materials are made and the houses we go into, a majority of furniture is made of plastic nowadays,” Phoenix Fire Capt. Larry Subervi said.
Subervi and other first responders attended the Wednesday funeral of firefighter Rick Telles, who died last week from throat cancer.