Your4State.com
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Fire Chief W. Kyd Dieterich with the Hagerstown Fire Department doesn’t have a sense of smell, has difficulty talking and has trouble getting ready in the morning.
“I had squamous cell carcinoma in my larynx, so laryngeal cancer,” Dieterich said. Dieterich has worked in the City of Hagerstown for 35 years and was diagnosed with the cancer in 2012. He says over the past ten years it has been discovered that firefighters have been exposed to a high level of carcinogens on a continual basis.
“The mentality used to be that dirty, filthy turnout gear was a badge of honor, that you got in there and you got the job done. When in fact, we’re killing ourselves because cancer rates among firefighters are much higher than the rest of the population,” he said.
Full story: Fire Chief diagnosed with laryngeal cancer offers advice to firefighters