Ames Leslie is a 44-year-old firefighter who works in Battleford, Saskatchewan.
He recently learned that he had testicular cancer.
Ames Leslie says he was often exposed to carcinogens during his career.
According to occupational epidemiologist Nicola Cherry, firefighters responding to a fire can be exposed to a variety of chemicals and hazardous substances. They are also exposed to things like the exhaust from their own trucks.
Also the equipment designed to protect firefighters contains carcinogenic materials and this is why firefighters tend to wear their protective equipment as little as possible.
A study by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) shows that 95% of deaths of active Canadian firefighters were related to cancer.
According to the President of Local 181 of theIAFTyler Packham, the ash that was once a source of pride, is now seen as a danger.
It used to be a badge of honor to have dirty, burnt equipment. It meant we’d been to war and survived
he says. Now, we see that as having cancer on our equipment.
In Saskatchewan, 20% of workers who died from work-related illness between 2011 and 2020 were firefighters with cancer, according to the annual report of the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB).
These figures pushed the WCB to hire the founder of the organization Firefighter Cancer Consultants, Jim Burneka. This organization helps firefighters by giving them information to better protect themselves against cancer..
Jim Burneka visited 8 fire departments across Saskatchewan in 019 and then put together a list of 30 recommendations. One of them stipulates that firefighters must clean their equipment at the scene of the fire.
Some employees in this sector say, however, that these recommendations are slow to materialize because of a lack of funds, especially in rural communities and in northern Saskatchewan.
With information from Nicholas Frew