Research Aims to Reduce Cancer Risks Among Arizona Firefighters

Firefighters fighting a fire in Huachuca City, AZ. / Credit: Jarek Tuszyński / CC-BY-3.0 & GDFL via Wikimedia Commons

By Tammy Leytham

Goodyear Fire Department Firefighter Gilbert Aguirre knows the risks that come with his job. Occupational-related cancer is one of them.

Aguirre became a full-time firefighter in southeastern Arizona when he was 20. When he was 35, Aguirre was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia – news that felt like a punch in the face to this former boxer.

“The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life after receiving that diagnosis … was my wife and I sitting down and talking to my three boys and telling them I had cancer,” Aguirre said.

“It’s an occupational cancer. All of the exposures that we encounter in our career are the cause of my cancer.”

Occupational-related cancer is a leading cause of death among firefighters, and it’s one researchers hope to reduce with help from a $4 million Arizona Board of Regents’ Research Grant.

With those funds, the University of Arizona will lead a study enrolling 1,500 Arizona firefighters to test the effectiveness of whether blood or plasma donations lower cancer-causing “forever chemicals” (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS) levels.

Firefighters come in contact with PFAS in many ways, including burning household items and contamination from personal protective equipment and firefighter foam used to put out burning liquids.

Last year, occupational exposure as a firefighter was classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a change from its previous classification as “possibly” carcinogenic.

“Firefighters face unimaginable risks to save our loved ones, our homes, and our communities and cancer is unfortunately one of those risks,” ABOR Chair Lyndel Manson said. “This study will help us figure out if there are ways to reduce that risk.”

Firefighters have a 9 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14 percent higher risk of dying from cancer than the general U.S. population.

“This grant and the research it will fund are beacons of hope for our firefighters,” said Tom Shannon, Arizona Fire Chiefs Association president and Scottsdale Fire Department chief. “Our great hope is that it will improve life outcomes for our firefighters.”

The Fire Chiefs Association will partner with the Professional Firefighters of Arizona to recruit and include fire departments and firefighters from throughout the state in both fire districts and municipalities in this research.

“One of this study’s goals is to decrease PFAS levels in firefighters – which we have found to be higher than in the general population,” said Dr. Jeff Burgess, University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health professor and principal investigator for the project. “Results from a previous study in Australia are encouraging as PFAS levels decreased through blood and plasma donations.”

Researchers expect similar results here, and they will also study whether the reduced levels can decrease disease risks associated with PFAS – research which has not been done before, Burgess said.

That’s the hope of Aguirre, as well, for future generations of firefighters; his sons are already expressing interest in becoming firefighters like their dad.

“For me, it’s really important that researchers like Dr. Burgess find ways to keep my sons and all future firefighters safe,” Aguirre said.