Report: Study to Reassess Cancer Risk at Firehouse

Tuesday, July 10, 2018 | 0

Oncological epidemiologists in Washington state will take another crack at assessing whether firefighters at a single firehouse in Seattle have a higher rate of cancer than their colleagues, according to a report by the Seattle Times.

Firefighters at Station 31 have “believed they were contracting cancer at an unusually high rate,” the Times reports. In 2001, the city hired an industrial hygienist who found no “concerning” levels of carcinogens. But firefighters said the city didn’t test an area of exposed dirt in the basement or a “substance oozing” from bricks.

The state Department of Health subsequently reported 119 cases of cancer among the 1,622 firefighters who worked at the station for more than 25 years from 1975 to 2003, according to the Times. While firefighters at the station had higher incidence of prostate cancer and melanoma than the general population, the study reportedly concluded that was consistent with other studies finding firefighters at an increased risk for developing cancer.

Firefighters, however, weren’t convinced. Station 31 Capt. Mike Gagliano dismissed the clean bill of health as part of an “agenda.” Another firefighter forced to retire in 2016 after developing brain cancer was the “straw that broke the camel’s back to say we have got to take a look at this again,” he told the Times.

The Fred Hutchinson Center will perform the latest review of cancer risks at the fire station. Results from the study should be available in 2019.