WASHINGTON, DC — Occupational cancer is now the leading cause of death among fire fighters – surpassing heart disease. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the Firefighter Cancer Support Network (FCSN) are committed to reversing this trend to save more fire fighter lives.

During Fire Fighter Cancer Awareness Month (iaff.org/cancer-awareness-month), the IAFF and FCSN will partner to deliver targeted education and best practices and resources to reduce the impact of cancer on fire fighters.

The month-long campaign includes safety stand downs, factsheets, podcasts, survivor stories, and training briefs. These materials focus on the scope of the cancer problem, prevention, best practices, survivorship, leadership tactics to encourage prevention, and skills to help departments reduce their risk of occupational cancer.

Topics are reinforced through online resources, such as daily training information and infographics that promote the program on social media and podcasts addressing important cancer topics and the latest research.

“Cancer is the leading cause of death among fire fighters, accounting for more than 74% of the line-of-duty deaths added to the IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Wall of Honor each year,” says IAFF General President Edward Kelly. “We must educate ourselves and do everything we can to extinguish cancer from the fire service. Together, the IAFF and FCSN are dedicated to doing whatever it takes to keep fire fighters healthy on and off the job.”

“As we continue to learn more about the link between firefighting and cancer, it is more important than ever that we take steps to minimize the risk fire fighters face every single day,” says FCSN CEO Bryan Frieders. “The science around fire fighter exposures is constantly changing but with continued research we learn more and more and are better equipped to introduce prevention practices to reduce our risk of developing occupational cancer.”