By FireRescue1 Staff
CICERO, N.Y. — New York firefighters are calling on the governor to sign a bill into law that grants coverage to volunteer firefighters with job-related cancer.
Syracuse.com reported that firefighters and leaders of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York called upon Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a news conference to sign legislation into law that provides gap coverage for volunteer firefighters with job-related cancer. The bill unanimously passed both chambers of state legislature.
Attendees of the news conference held signs in support of the bill that said things such as “We didn’t volunteer to get cancer.”
“Fire service research has confirmed the fact that cancer rates among firefighters is steadily growing,” former FASNY director Brian McQueen said. “Firefighters today are exposed to more toxins, carcinogens and chemicals than we had decades ago.”
The bill would grant $25,000 to volunteer firefighters who suffer melanoma, digestive, hematological, lymphatic, urinary, prostate, neurological, breast and reproductive cancer.
The bill would also grant firefighters, who are unable to work due to illness, $1,500 in disability benefits for 36 months. A $50,000 benefit would go to the family if a firefighter should die.
“It’s time to protect our protectors,” FASNY’s chief administrative officer David Quinn said. “Cancer does not discriminate between paid firefighters and volunteer firefighters.”
https://www.facebook.com/fasnyvf/videos/10155025532276859/