Four Yukon firefighters have been diagnosed with cancer since 2011, and according to Alex Forrest of the Winnipeg Fire Professional Firefighters Association, they should be getting stronger benefits. Legislative updates will affect all firefighters, including volunteer and wildland firefighters.
Forrest is a leading expert when it comes to presumptive legislation and is assisting the Yukon Firefighters Association in producing strong legislation to protect Yukon firefighters who are diagnosed with cancer. According to Forrest the leading cause of firefighter mortality is not acute smoke inhalation or deaths during actual firefighting missions, but instead cancer. He says that while firefighting clothing has improved, especially from a heat protection standpoint, fires are becoming more and more toxic. Increases in different chemicals in building materials, such as various plastics mean that smoke from these fires contains a host of carcinogens that are entering firefighters’ bodies and are causing more varieties of cancers than previously known.
Currently there are 10 types of cancers considered to be occupational according to Yukon legislation, but the Yukon Firefighters Association would like to see 8 more cancers added to the list including cancers that are female predominant such as breast cancer and cervical cancer. If the legislation is passed it would mean that firefighters can access significantly more benefits. The move would mean that cancer diagnoses would be treated in the same way that injuries or deaths during firefighting events would be and families and individuals would be adequately compensated.
The association hopes to have the legislation passed within the year, and is also hopeful that the changes will be retroactive and protect firefighters, such as the 4 that have already been diagnosed.
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