Stratford Fire Department receives nearly $16,500 for cancer-prevention measures

The Stratford Fire Department is one of the recipients of the Ontario government’s newly launched Fire Protection Grant.

The Province of Ontario announced in a Dec. 19 press release it will invest $30 million over three years to provide 374 municipal fire stations with funding for cancer-prevention measures for firefighters. The Fire Protection Grant is the first-ever grant in Ontario recognizing cancer prevention for firefighters. The Stratford Fire Department received $16,460 for the city’s two stations.

“It's wonderful because it shows the province and municipalities are recognizing the increase of cancer in the firefighters,” said Fire Chief Neil Anderson.

About 50-60 firefighters die from cancer annually in Canada with half of those firefighters in Ontario. Firefighters are exposed to carcinogenic substances such as PFAs, sulphides and alcohol substances. Building materials such as plastics are also becoming more carcinogenic.

“This stuff gets caught in our firefighting gear, our equipment, our tools and has to be cleaned properly,” Anderson said.

The Stratford Fire Department’s cancer-prevention measures include cleaning the gear, showering after exposure to fire and other harmful substances, having additional gloves and flash hoods, and keeping a second set of clean fire gear on the trucks for firefighters to change so they don’t bring the chemicals into the truck.

Anderson said firefighter schools and colleges made cleaning gear a standard practice and he sees it with new recruits.

“Years ago, dirty bunker gear, firefighting gear used to be considered a badge of honour,” he said. “Now, they would never think twice about wearing dirty bunker gear. They want to get the carcinogens out of their gear."

Anderson wants to use the grant funding towards a new extractor to have more convenient gear cleaning for his team.

"We can clean in-house without having to contract our cleaning out to an external organization. It also reduces your carcinogens,” he said.

As fire gear expires every 10 years, the Stratford Fire Department ensures each firefighter has new gear every five years. Last year, the fire department received more than $47,000 from Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation of Canada for 10 new sets of gear.

January is Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month.