Firefighters preventing cancer

Dr Patrick McGrath is leading the development and evaluation of an education program to help volunteer firefighters reduce their exposure to cancer-causing chemicals. Firefighters are frequently exposed to products of combustion, including cancer-causing chemicals that increase their risk of developing cancer. More than 85% of Canada’s firefighters are volunteers living in rural and remote areas of Canada who may not receive adequate training about how to minimise their exposure to these dangerous chemicals, both when firefighting and from contaminated equipment afterwards. With funding from the Canadian Cancer Society, Dr McGrath is working with the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and the Canadian Volunteer Fire Services Association to design and test an education initiative to help reduce exposure to these cancer-causing chemicals in volunteer firefighters. The program will be designed with input from 40 firefighters and fire chiefs and will include a video course, email and text messages containing health information asl well as a chat room for volunteer firefighters to exchange ideas and encourage mutual support. The program will be evaluated in up to 800 people with tailored efforts made to ensure the recruitment of women and BIPOC. If successful, this project will enable volunteer firefighters to reduce their exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and reduce their personal cancer risk. Partner: ICR-CIHR $99834