page_title: Firefighter
section_title: Cancer
hierarchical_section_title: Firefighter / Occupational health and safety / Long-term risks / Cancer
caption_attribution_description: MEDITERRANEAN SEA (April 23, 2019) Sailors participate in a fire drill exercise aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG 96). Bainbridge is underway as part of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group deployment in support of maritime security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th, U.S. 6th and U.S. 7th Fleet areas of operation. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2, USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7; as well as the Spanish navy Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate ESPS Mendez Nunez (F 104). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jason Waite/Released)190423-N-SS350-0016
context_page_description: A firefighter is a rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and animals from dangerous situations.
  The complexity of modern, industrialized life has created an increase in the skills needed in firefighting technology. The fire service, also known in some countries as the fire brigade or fire department, is one of the three main emergency services. From urban areas to aboard ships, firefighters have become ubiquitous around the world.
  The skills required for safe operations are regularly practiced during training evaluations throughout a firefighter's career. Initial firefighting skills are normally taught through local, regional or state-approved fire academies or training courses. Depending on the requirements of a department, additional skills and certifications such as technical rescue and pre-hospital medicine may also be acquired at this time.
  Firefighters work closely with other emergency response agencies such as the police and emergency medical service. A firefighter's role may overlap with both.
context_section_description: A 2015 retrospective longitudinal study showed that firefighters are at higher risk for certain types of cancer. Firefighters had mesothelioma, which is caused by asbestos exposure, at twice the rate of the non-firefighting working population. Younger firefighters (under age 65) also developed bladder cancer and prostate cancer at higher rates than the general population. The risk of bladder cancer may be present in female firefighters, but research is inconclusive as of 2014. Preliminary research from 2015 on a large cohort of US firefighters showed a direct relationship between the number of hours spent fighting fires and lung cancer and leukemia mortality in firefighters. This link is a topic of continuing research in the medical community, as is cancer mortality in general among firefighters.
  Firefighters are exposed to a variety of carcinogens at fires, including both carcinogenic chemicals and radiation (alpha radiation, beta radiation, and gamma radiation).
caption: Smoke can expose firefighters to a variety of carcinogens
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