The Fire Department Safety Officers Association’s Annual Safety Forum was held this week in Orlando, Fla. “We’re not afraid to talk about safety,” Orange County (Fla.) Fire Chief Carl Plaugher said in his welcoming remarks. “In the fire service, we have [gotten] to the point that we’ve said ‘enough is enough’ and we’re not afraid to talk about safety.”
More than 130 safety officers from across the country participated in programs covering accident and hazard investigations, cyanide poisoning, wellness programs, cancer, and fire fatalitites.
James L. Fleming is the medical director for the Phoenix Fire Department Health Center, which is contracted through Banner Hospitals. For six years, Fleming has developed and directed the city’s occupational health program.
In his presentation, “Cancer Risk in the Fire Service,” Fleming described several cancers of concern in his practice: brain cancer, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, bladder and kidney cancer, colo-rectal cancers, melanomas, nasopharyngeal cancers, and pancreatic cancers. Fleming didn’t include lung cancer. Surprisingly, there are no statistics to prove that firefighters are more susceptible to lung cancer than the general population, he said.
“Cancer is a big concern, but less of a concern than heart disease,” Fleming said. Cancer can take years to show up, and Fleming cited one fire department that found a small cluster of cancers among its retirees.
Phoenix’s health program focuses on prevention through annual physical exams. These exams include a cancer screening and blood and pulmonary tests. Firefighters older than 40 also have cardio-stress tests every year. Those tests are done every other year for firefighters in their 30s and every third year for those in their 20s. Prostate-specific antigen tests are included for firefighters age 45 and older. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer seen in men between the ages of 25 and 40, Fleming said, so that test is part of firefighters’ physical exam, as is education about self-exams.
In the last 10 years, an increased awareness about colonoscopies as a preventive measure has resulted in a decrease in colo-rectal cancers. “We’ve found more than 20 to 30 individuals with polyps and have prevented those individuals from getting cancer,” Fleming said.
In another session, Kissimmee, Fla., Deputy Chief Mike Gurley presented “Fire Fatalities: Preparing, Command and Control, and Caring.” The program was based on his 30 years of experience first with the Virginia Beach (Va.) Fire Department and now with Kissimmee.
“You can’t always save everybody; the odds are against it,” Gurley said as he showed graphic photos and explained how to find victims, identify them and remove them from the scene. He also discussed dealing with the emotional issues of a fire fatality.
Gurley discussed when to remove a fire victim and when to leave him or her in place for investigators. He talked about how to be better prepared to handle fire fatalities and how to improve the procedures.
Several of the conference presentations will be posted on www.fdsoa.org. The next safety forum is scheduled for Oct. 27–31, 2008.
