As cancer spikes among firefighters, Fresno Fire Department adapts to protect its own

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- More firefighters are being diagnosed with crab nationwide -- a statistic believed to beryllium linked to changes successful the materials recovered successful homes and buildings.

Here astatine home, the Fresno Fire Department has mislaid 15 firefighters successful the enactment of duty. Nearly fractional of those were crab deaths, and each of them happened wrong the past 8 years.

Now, the department's enactment says they're present relearning a occupation they've worked for years, to support their own.

"Every night, I spell home, and my thoughts and prayers... are that our radical are safe," said Fresno Fire Department Deputy Chief Devin McGuire.

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The section has been investing successful instrumentality to support its firefighters, due to the fact that the information doesn't extremity erstwhile they permission a fire. The aerial they've breathed, and the chemicals they've been exposed to acknowledgment to a greater usage of plastics and petroleum-based electronics, has resulted successful a spike successful cancer.

"There's been a large accent connected however tin we forestall it? What other tin we do?" said Joshua Sellers, a nationalist accusation serviceman for Fresno fire.

Part of the effort is implementing standards -- similar keeping their cogwheel contained and distant from them and past washing it aft a fire, arsenic good arsenic showering arsenic soon arsenic possible.

Sellers is passionate astir the changes: respective of his friends are presently warring cancer. Others person mislaid their ain battles with the disease.

"When you spot your brothers and sisters suffering, it's like, okay. We truly request to marque a difference," helium said.

Officials accidental to bash that, they person to bash things differently. As they look antithetic challenges, successful a antithetic world.

"The situation for maine from an operations standpoint is to stock those reflections of what I did, probably, wrong, and marque definite that what we're doing moving guardant is doing the astir imaginable to marque definite that they're protected to the champion of their ability," said McGuire.

This clip past year, Fresno Fire deployed a squad to assistance combat Southern California's wildfires. Fresno officials accidental it's an added wellness interest to the mundane risks -- 1 they'll request to show for decades to come.