JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Local firefighters believe they may be getting cancer after being exposed to toxins while battling fires.
“When the fire's out, that’s when the masks come off and you start breathing all that stuff in,” Kurtis Wilson said.
Wilson is the chief of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
Luckily, help is on the way for those who help protect us all.
On Monday, state and local leaders gathered in downtown Jacksonville at Fire Station 1 to announce a new $1 million grant from the state.
This grant will supply more than 4,500 decontamination kits to 405 fire departments throughout Florida, including Duval County.
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“The idea is to get firemen to change past practices. We never cleaned our gear after fires,” Wilson said.
If firefighters are not properly decontaminated, those chemicals could be fatal.
The kits include dish soap, duct tape, hoses, spray, brushes and heavy plastic bags.
“This hits home for me," Jacksonville Firefighter's Union President Randy Wyse said. “I’m a third generation firefighter. My grandfather died of cancer, (and) my father died of cancer.”
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, firefighters have a 9 percent higher risk of cancer diagnoses and a 14 percent higher risk of dying from cancer.
Action News Jax told you in August that firefighters in St. Johns County fire stations started using MagneGrip.
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It’s a giant hose hanging from the ceiling that captures cancer-causing diesel fumes from fire trucks and filters out the toxic air through mounted pipes.
Wilson said Duval County is getting that system as well and that the advancements are about changing a culture.
“When firefighters started getting sick, they tried to come up with a fix," Wilson said. “This is a huge initiative.”
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