By Brie Handgraaf
The Wilson Daily Times
WILSON, N.C. — Wilson firefighters recently were a part of a modern-day bucket brigade to get health aids to one of their own diagnosed with cancer.
The relay of a motorized scooter and an auto lift came with an important lesson from Fire Chief Don Oliver.
“Ironically, the most dangerous thing about an occupation that involves running into burning buildings isn’t the flames, but the smoke,” Oliver told crews on Thursday. “Cancer is the leading cause of firefighter line-of-duty deaths in the United States, and according to the International Association of Fire Fighters, about 60 percent of career firefighters will die this way, ‘with their boots off’ as they call it.”
The lesson was spurred by the Dec. 12 passing of Roger Myers Sr. of Grand Lakes, Florida. The father of a Richmond firefighter became friends with Battalion Chief David “Chico” Creasy as the duo fought for their lives against the same enemy — cancer.
Before he succumbed to the disease, Myers expressed the desire for his family to pass along anything that might help Creasy.
That dying wish became a reality as firefighters across five states coordinated a modern brigade to get a motorized scooter and a lift from the Sunshine State to Chesterfield County, Virginia. Oliver said a call from friend Robert Creecy, the fire chief in Richmond, got him immediately on board.
Oliver, who is a survivor of prostate cancer, said Wilson firefighters got the equipment from Raleigh crews on Thursday, then ferried it to Rocky Mount for the final leg of the relay.
“We may not know every firefighter that dies every year in a fire or from cancer, but they are a part of our family,” Oliver said. “We’re a brotherhood, and sisterhood and this is what we do.”
While the brigade offered a feel-good moment for those involved, Oliver said his real goal is to raise awareness among firefighters and the public about the proliferation of cancer in the fire service.
“Someone asked what it is like in a fire and today it is like crawling into a big bowl of your grandma’s thickest gravy,” he said. “You can feel the smoke. It sticks to your skin and every five degrees of additional body temperature increases the absorption of smoke by as much as 400 percent.”
Oliver, who has been in the fire service for nearly 50 years, said the trend toward plastics and other synthetic materials has drastically increased the danger firefighters face. When those materials burn, the toxic chemicals and gases pose long-term risks to firefighters.
A study done in 2012 by Susan Shaw, the executive director of the Marine & Environmental Research Institute, sampled the blood of 12 firefighters after a fire and showed three times the level of flame retardants as the general population. Shaw said their blood levels of perfluroinated chemicals, which are used as non-stick coatings were twice as high as those of the World Trade Center first responders.
Oliver said 9/11 increased the general awareness about the health risks of those working at Ground Zero, but not many people translated that lesson to the similar risks faced by firefighters every day.
The National Fire Protection Association recommends firefighters each have two sets of gear, to allow for proper decontamination between incidents, but tight budgets have left many municipalities falling short of the guideline.
Wilson’s nearly 90 front-line personnel each have one coat and one pair of turnout pants, each set with a combined price tag of about $2,000. The fire headquarters has an extractor washing machine to clean the gear, but the number of calls and the frequency of shifts mean most firefighters only wash their gear every few days.
The fire department has requested the funds to purchase the second sets of gear for several years, but has yet to receive approval.
If the request is again cut, the price tag is expected to rise by about $45,000 as the department is wrapping up a fixed-price five-year contract.
“Two-thirds of the guys on this job are likely to get cancer,” Oliver said. “We need to take steps to help prevent cancer in firefighters.”
Copyright 2017 The Wilson Daily Times