2600 W. Olive Ave

5th Floor PMB 608

Burbank, CA 91505

866.994.FCSN (3276)

213.270.9415 Fax

Bryan Frieders

President & CEO

Fire Chief (Ret.)

Julie Sherman 

Vice President

Senior Partner

Straussner Sherman

Joe Schumacher

Secretary/Treasurer & COO

Fire Captain (Ret.) 

Ben Helquist 

Chair, Governance & Oversight

Senior Partner

Straussner Sherman

Dan Murphy

Chair, Fundraising

VP & Chief Philanthropy Officer

Dignity Health Foundation

Jaclynne Brown, M.Ed.

SVP, Content & Communications

Arizona Diamondbacks

Kathryn Barger 

Supervisor, 5th District 

County of Los Angeles

Michael A. Barasch, Esq.

Managing Partner 

Barasch & McGarry

Honorable Jim Ross

Mayor

Arlington, Texas 

Lisa Raggio

Executive Director

March 31, 2023

CDR Kenny Fent, PhD, CIH

Team Lead, National Firefighter Registry

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

1090 Tusculum Ave

Cincinnati, OH 45226

RE: Support for the National Firefighter Registry (NFR) by the Firefighter Cancer Support 

Network 

The Firefighter Cancer Support Network (FCSN) is in strong support of the National 

Firefighter Registry. Cancer is the leading cause of firefighter line of duty deaths. As an 

organization dedicated to the welfare of our nation’s cancer-stricken firefighters who 

willingly risk their health and safety each day to protect communities throughout the 

country, we are keenly aware that firefighters are working jobs that make it far more likely 

that they suffer certain illnesses and injuries more often than other professions–particularly 

that of cancer. 

In addition to the potential for significant injuries and death, firefighters must deal with heat 

stress, shift-work, sleep disruption and psychological stress, and exposure to toxic 

combustion byproducts. Several studies show that firefighters’ have an increased risk of 

cancer. In 2022, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) completed their 

evaluation of the carcinogenicity of occupational exposure as a firefighter, which they have 

now classified as a group 1 known human carcinogen, based on sufficient evidence for cancer 

in firefighters for mesothelioma and bladder cancer. There was also limited evidence for 

several other cancers: colon, prostate, testicular, melanoma of the skin, and non-Hodgkin 

lymphoma. Per Jeff Burgess, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., Associate Dean for Research for the 

University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, FCSN Health and 

Wellness advisor and an IARC working group invited specialist, “The IARC designation that 

firefighting is carcinogenic is important. We need to use this determination to strengthen 

our efforts to prevent cancer in the fire service, continuing collaborative research to identify 

effective interventions.”
2600 W. Olive Ave

5th Floor PMB 608

Burbank, CA 91505

866.994.FCSN (3276)

213.270.9415 Fax

Bryan Frieders

President & CEO

Fire Chief (Ret.)

Julie Sherman 

Vice President

Senior Partner

Straussner Sherman

Joe Schumacher

Secretary/Treasurer & COO

Fire Captain (Ret.) 

Ben Helquist 

Chair, Governance & Oversight

Senior Partner

Straussner Sherman

Dan Murphy

Chair, Fundraising

VP & Chief Philanthropy Officer

Dignity Health Foundation

Jaclynne Brown, M.Ed.

SVP, Content & Communications

Arizona Diamondbacks

Kathryn Barger 

Supervisor, 5th District 

County of Los Angeles

Michael A. Barasch, Esq.

Managing Partner 

Barasch & McGarry

Honorable Jim Ross

Mayor

Arlington, Texas 

Lisa Raggio

Executive Director

Still, more in-depth and comprehensive research is needed to better understand specific 

cancer risks and occupational risk factors among all types of firefighters, including volunteer 

firefighters, female and minority firefighters, and subspecialty groups of the fire service, like 

fire cause investigators, airport rescue firefighters, wildland firefighters, and fire instructors. 

To better understand the link between firefighting and cancer, U.S. Congress directed the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create the National Firefighter Registry 

(NFR). The NFR is a voluntary registry of all U.S. firefighters, not just those with cancer. The 

project is being led by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

(NIOSH), which has the knowledge, expertise, experience, and resources to lead this type of 

project. The NFR will be used to monitor and better understand cancer among firefighters in 

the U.S. 

With broad participation, the NFR will be able to:

• Track cancer diagnoses (including rare types of cancer) among a diverse group of 

firefighters throughout the U.S.

• Explore cancer risk between different groups of firefighters, including women,

minorities, and sub-specialties of the fire service

• Evaluate how exposures, including those from large or unusual incidents, relate to 

firefighters’ cancer risk

• Evaluate how control interventions relate to firefighters’ cancer risk

• Investigate whether firefighters’ risks for different cancers are changing over time

Participation in the NFR is voluntary. However, it is the position of the Firefighter Cancer 

Support Network (FCSN) that all firefighters—structural and wildland, career and volunteer, 

active and retired, and those with and without cancer—should take part. The FCSN 

especially encourages firefighters all over the country to take time to enroll in the NFR. 

Having broad and diverse participation is absolutely critical to the success of the NFR.
2600 W. Olive Ave

5th Floor PMB 608

Burbank, CA 91505

866.994.FCSN (3276)

213.270.9415 Fax

Bryan Frieders

President & CEO

Fire Chief (Ret.)

Julie Sherman 

Vice President

Senior Partner

Straussner Sherman

Joe Schumacher

Secretary/Treasurer & COO

Fire Captain (Ret.) 

Ben Helquist 

Chair, Governance & Oversight

Senior Partner

Straussner Sherman

Dan Murphy

Chair, Fundraising

VP & Chief Philanthropy Officer

Dignity Health Foundation

Jaclynne Brown, M.Ed.

SVP, Content & Communications

Arizona Diamondbacks

Kathryn Barger 

Supervisor, 5th District 

County of Los Angeles

Michael A. Barasch, Esq.

Managing Partner 

Barasch & McGarry

Honorable Jim Ross

Mayor

Arlington, Texas 

Lisa Raggio

Executive Director

The FCSN is committed to the following in our effort to support the NFR registry: 

• Advising our FCSN volunteers, mentors and mentees that the NFR is open to ALL 

firefighters and direct them to https://NFR.cdc.gov. 

• Encouraging firefighters to register and reassure them that the information they 

provide is confidential and that they participate in follow-up questionnaires. 

• Spreading the word, including retired or former firefighters, about the impact of the 

NFR. 

By supporting the NFR, the FCSN hopes to learn more about the health risks firefighters’ face. 

Information gleaned from this project will be useful to fire departments, fire service 

organizations, standard-setting organizations, and policy makers throughout the country and 

will ultimately help reduce cancer risk among firefighters. 

Sincerely, 

Bryan Frieders

Fire Chief (Ret.) 

President/CEO

Firefighter Cancer Support Network