The list of cancers that federal officials acknowledge as occupational risks for wildland firefighters now includes several that largely affect women.
Several years ago, the Department of Labor and then Congress recognized that firefighters are at heightened risk for a number of cancers and other serious diseases. That made it easier to file worker compensation claims. Absent from the list of so-called presumptive conditions were cancers that largely affect women. But this week, the department announced that list would grow to include ovarian, breast and uterine cancer, as well as basal cell carcinoma.
That decision was based on a review of evidence that concluded that “female firefighters, more likely than not, face heightened risks for breast, uterine and ovarian cancers… due to the toxic exposures they face in their work.”
In a blog post, outgoing Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs Director Christopher Godfrey said the change represented a “shift toward equity and recognition of women’s contributions and the protections they deserve given the risks they take and the exposures they face.”
Kelly Martin has decades of wildfire experience, and co-founded the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, which had been pushing for the expansion. She applauded the decision, but finds the growing list of serious disease risks disturbing.
“The question behind the presumptive diseases is what do we do about it and what are we doing different now that [we] know,” she said. “And I think that's … the big elephant in the room that we need to talk about.”
Recent research found that wildland firefighters are exposed to at least 31 carcinogens on the job. Martin suggested lowering the retirement age for fireline workers to reduce exposure to the many carcinogens they’re exposed to.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
