> Last year, nearly 75% of the firefighters who passed away died of job-related cancer

I'd like to know the source of that statistic, but WOW if true.

How did the Unions let this go for so long?

Because unions don’t have as much power as people think they do due to anti-union laws.

In Massachusetts for example, public sector workers are legally forbidden from striking, and any public sector union that is found to be organizing or encouraging this is heavily fined

I believe this stat is normally accounting for retired firefighters as well. The generation that have retired in the last ten years and are retiring now, had way more exposure to obvious carcinogens vs career firefighters of today.

It’s really more because 50% of the country was raised to gobble up any form of oligarch-benefactors through their incessant idolization and submission to broken capitalism

Funniest part is that they consider it a mark of freedom 😂 as they hobble away with chronic injuries from their low end labor jobs while their frat bro buddies try to milk the finance system right off their backs. A subset of true modern day idiots containing more subsets of different idiots within! The beauty of it all….

Let’s hear it for the mindless clueless bootstrapper demographic, the most easily deluded bunch of morons you could ever ask to share a country with! Bravo morons. Bravo. Eat that oligarch asshole for breakfast and turn around to tell us how freedomy you really are ;)

Downvote away South Shore Central Boonies MA from your little cesspools. Seethe :)

It wouldn't be surprising at all, given the job is to be near unknown things that are on fire.

Asbestos fragments, benzene, naptha, wood treatments, burning paint, the foam cushions from furniture... at best they're microdosing toxins with every fire they're near.

I've talked with some firefighters about this. They've told me there aren't suitable nontoxic alternatives. You can be safe from the fire or you can be safe from your PPE but not both. This article seems to indicate the standards were set so high as to exclude the nontoxic methods.

For the firefighters more cognizant of the risks, they don't fully dress until they need the protection the suits offer (entering the building, knocking down stuff, etc). This probably varies by unit and town.

That statistical accounting may be true, but only because the current generation of firefighters hasn’t died yet. If I were to make an educated guess, I’d say that these statistics are likely to drastically rise in the future.

But firefighters exposure to carcinogens have drastically risen year by year, for a litany of reasons. For one, structural firefighting fear obv, increased exposure to hazardous materials, a switch decades ago to diesel powered apparatus from gasoline, the use of firefighting foams, and the biggest factor is the construction materials used in buildings and their contents. Studies of legacy materials (wood, cotton) vs what is seen now in home furnishings like polystyrene foam, plastics, and others have drastically increased the level of toxic gases - including hydrogen cyanide for one.

It may seem that since fires are less frequent that exposure would be lower, but the opposite is true. The environment inside structure fires burns hotter, and release more- and more toxic, carcinogens.

Exactly. Good luck fighting a modern fire in a blanket lined, rubberized nomex trench coat with hip boots like we did until the 90’s.

This is a frivolous lawsuit . What are you gonna fight fire with? Your cotton coat ?????!!!

🤘🏻

Yep.

It’s been good seeing what Michigan’s legislature has spent their time doing in their latest session - the repeal of the aggressively dishonestly named “right to work” legislation had me cheering

You seem like you really think things through before posting stuff.

> In Massachusetts for example, public sector workers are legally forbidden from striking, and any public sector union that is found to be organizing or encouraging this is heavily fined

This really needs to be changed.

The information about how toxic the PPE is really became well known in the occupation within the last decade, within it becoming more of a polarizing point just in the past few years. This is kind of a recent issue, it's no surprise there are people who want to see changes made while still maintaining safety. Maybe it means more oversight to ensure that the chemicals are less able to be leached into skin, or less likely to off gas, or maybe it means better researching the minimum amount of chemical required, whatever.. but just because it's a necessary evil that must be used that doesn't mean there can't be better ways to oversee it's use.

I'd assume smoke inhalation had something to do with this, but I'm always in support of firefighters.

Yes you are right. Although it is interesting that despite the cancer presumption law in Massachusetts, many firefighters still choose to consume tobacco products. I feel like the culture still has a long way to go and there’s so many things that can be done to limit exposure but are still ignored.

[deleted]

From a researchers perspective, we desperately need more research dollars into nontoxic options for PPE. Similar to PFAS alternatives, the need has always been there to develop these materials but federal dollars have not been.

Yes, it sure does.

One of our state legislators has introduced a bill to allow it.

And Healey’s opposition to that has completely removed any support I had for her.

I don't think people understand how widely used PFASs are. They're almost in every waterproof jacket you can buy. Even ones that say "no PTFE" they just use a technically different but very similar chemical which is likely just as bad.

It's also in a lot of dental floss, skincare products, take out food packaging, non-stick pans, etc. it’s impossible to avoid completely.

Also, our legislature is terrified of bringing up bills that won’t pass.

She really is a horrible cunt.

Tobacco products are not permitted in many departments; you commit to that when you're hired. Anecdotally, I'd say there's one guy on the shift/in one station who occasionally dabbles (out of the group of 8ish who staff that station/shift for my firefighter, and the guy is an old timer). The cancer risk comes from constantly working around burning building materials/the culture around cleaning gear, which is shifting.

Tobacco products are not permitted but are pretty commonly used, at least in my part of the commonwealth. The culture is shifting for sure, hopefully that momentum continues.

Fair enough-- not a firefighter myself but other than a very occasional lip, I don't see/hear of much use here.

This is kind of the sad truth. I remember getting issued my asbestos gloves in the army for changing machine gun barrels. Sometimes you have to pick the lesser of two evils and sometimes you just don’t have a choice.

Especially considering the growing range of chemicals that they have to do battle with. From the foam in residential furniture & beds to an endless range of chemicals stored in warehouses to electric vehicles and so on, the range of chemicals they're exposed to over the course of their careers is huge...

On our FD we were our gear for a lot of shit.. not just fires. We wear gear to motor vehicle accidents, rescues, hazardous materials, all fire alarm activations, gas leaks, collapses and much more because there’s no alternative.

Things we don’t wear gear to is medical emergencies, CO alarms, wires down, services calls, mundane stuff.

Braindead opinion.

Downvoters can’t pull anything out of their ass to excuse their behavior - how weak - we all know that trickle piss is comin any day though right? RIGHT!?

Misogynist insults aren’t okay.

She’s showing that she’s awful, you don’t need to denigrate women in acknowledging this.

[removed]

Lol would you care if I called Trump a Dick? I reserve that word for those who deserve it, like Margaret thatcher.

Pretending denigration towards men and women is identical is absurd

Agreed. Especially with firefighters, they’re selflessly taking on a massive risk just to save lives. It should be a top priority for these companies to make sure the equipment is as safe as possible.