By Lindsay Weber
The Morning Call
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Brittany Tomczak knew that her husband’s chosen profession and passion — firefighting — came with serious risks to his health and safety. Running into burning buildings certainly comes with hazards.
But she was not prepared for her husband to receive a diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer in 2023, when he was 43 years old.
“I always thought, God forbid something ever happened to him, it would be in a fire, responding to a call, a heart attack, something to that nature,” Tomczak, a mom of two boys, said. “Cancer was never, at least as far as I’m concerned, never a thought in my mind.”
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Jeff Tomczak had always been given a clean bill of health in his annual physicals, but a visit to the doctor’s office for stomach pain turned into an emergency surgery and, eventually, a cancer diagnosis. He died July 26, 2024, just shy of his 45th birthday.
Cancer is the No. 1 cause of line-of-duty deaths among firefighters, who are 9% more likely than the general population to be diagnosed with cancer and 14% more likely to die from the disease, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Firefighters are exposed to hazardous toxins via smoke inhalation, and more recent research has shown that cancer-causing “forever chemicals” in firefighting foam and the gear firefighters wear to protect themselves also pose a serious threat to their health, as well as the health of the broader community.
Measures like limiting cancer-causing chemicals in firefighter equipment and funding comprehensive cancer screenings are in the works in Pennsylvania, but have not yet passed into law.
It is time for lawmakers to act, Brittany Tomczak said.
“I told my husband, and I’ve told every department that he’s with, I will do and talk to whoever,” Tomczak said. “Public speaking isn’t my forte. It’s not something that I like to do, but I feel there’s a greater area for me to use this as a platform and a way to get the message across.”
Jeff’s story
Before Jeff Tomczak’s diagnosis, the family enjoyed a happy — if slightly unconventional — family life in Lansdale, Montgomery County, with their two boys, Matthew, now 15, and Connor, 11.
Tomczak joined the Allentown Fire Department in 2010 and served as a firefighter and fire marshal. He also was a firefighter in Upper Gwynedd Township, Montgomery County, from 1996 until his retirement in 2024 as deputy fire chief. Further, as a firefighter for the Air National Guard, he was deployed in support of multiple worldwide operations, including in Kyrgyzstan, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Firefighting was “in Jeff’s blood,” his wife said. Though his family is not connected to the fire service, Jeff felt that it was his calling in life.
“When we first started dating, he was kind of like, ‘This is who I am. This is my life. I want to bring you into it, but this is, this was it.’ It was literally in his blood — fire emergency management, protection, community,” she said. “That was, those were, his values. Volunteering was a big thing for him. And so, of course, absolutely. I jumped right in.”
Tomczak’s schedule sometimes meant long stretches away from home, or leaving in the middle of the night or from the dinner table to respond to an emergency. But he was always there for his family, Brittany said — they would schedule “make-up” holidays and birthdays whenever he had to miss them. He made sure they enjoyed themselves as a family when he had precious time off work, including season tickets to the Phillies and summer trips to the Jersey Shore.
“Our family doesn’t know any different. My kids have … always adjusted to that. They don’t know any other way,” Brittany said. “So I think we’ve always done a good job of showing the kids that we may not look like other families, but we’re just as much as a family as everybody else.”
That commitment to his family remained steadfast even after his death. While undergoing treatment, Tomczak arranged for his firefighting brothers to mow the family lawn twice a week, attend his son’s baseball games and go out of their way to make the Tomczaks feel welcomed at fire department events.
“I think being a part of this community is very special and very unique because you have people who just know how to jump in and help. They know what to do, no questions asked. They’re there for you, it is that brotherhood,” Brittany said. “I can’t explain, even since he has passed away, how many have reached out from all of his different departments. Some guys that I didn’t really even know very well before he passed away have now called and check on us or stop by.”
Brittany and her sons will head to Colorado next week for an official ceremony inscribing Jeff’s name onto the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial, which commemorates members of the fire service who have died in the line of duty. It is an honor to their family that Jeff gave his life for his dedication and service to firefighting, Brittany said.
Still, the prospect that Jeff’s death could have been prevented via better cancer screenings or less hazardous materials is enough to prompt her to become an advocate for the firefighter safety cause.
“The biggest thing that I want to get across, and I told my husband that I would do this for him as well, it’s just awareness about cancer and early detection and screenings,” Brittany said. “Not just your annual physical. Additional tests, and trying to get as many departments to really get that on their radar.”
Cancer risks
Tomczak is one of two Allentown firefighters who died of service-related cancer in recent years. Allentown assistant fire Chief Christopher Kiskeravage died of occupational pancreatic cancer in 2023; the fire department named its new fire academy training facility in his honor last year.
April Lubenetski, a master firefighter for the Emmaus Fire Department and firefighter and EMT for the Lehigh Township Volunteer Fire Co., also died this year of occupational cancer.
“Without identifying anyone in particular, we do have members, either active or retired, that are currently dealing with cancer. We do have members that also have fought it and have beat it but, more or less, cancer is a killer, and we are looking at the best ways to prevent it,” said Lou Jimenez, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 735, representing Bethlehem’s firefighters.
Firefighters face increased cancer risks because fires can create toxic mixtures of carcinogenic gas and particulate matter that they absorb via their lungs or their skin. Skin cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer and testicular cancer are among the most common cancers they are diagnosed with, although other types can also be service-connected.
Pennsylvania specifically recognizes firefighters’ increased cancer risks. A 2011 Firefighter Cancer Presumption Law allows Pennsylvania firefighters to receive workers’ compensation benefits, including salary, benefits and medical care, if they develop an exposure-related cancer, and firefighters who have served four or more years are entitled to a presumption that their cancer is job-related.
Cancer claims via the law can be brought on behalf of any active or retired firefighter receiving cancer treatment back to 2000, and on behalf of surviving family members of firefighters who died from cancer, if they file a claim within three years of the firefighter’s death.
In addition to risks firefighters face via smoke and gas exposure, cancer-causing “forever chemicals” present in both firefighting foam and turnout and protective gear firefighters wear also increase their cancer risks. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a type of chemical used in industrial and consumer products for their water, oil and heat-resistant properties.
The chemicals were identified as a possible carcinogen in 2014 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and further research has linked PFAS to kidney, prostate, breast, liver and other cancers.
Many fire departments across Pennsylvania, including in Allentown and Bethlehem, have phased out the use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS, because an alternative without the chemical is now widely available.
But most fire departments continue to use turnout protective gear that contains PFAS because few alternatives exist. Only one manufacturer, Milliken , announced last year that a non-PFAS turnout wear option is available can be used on a trial basis by fire departments.
So while many firefighters have no choice but continue wearing gear that can pose a hazard to their health, awareness and best practices can help, advocates say.
A 2018 study led by Graham Peaslee, a physicist at Notre Dame University, was the first to identify firefighters’ turnout gear as a possible source for PFAS contamination. Firefighters could be exposed to PFAS if they do not adequately launder their gear after use, and possibly via sweat pores if the chemicals shed from the suit’s thermal layer and come into contact with skin.
To minimize possible exposure, Peaslee said firefighters should take care to only wear their outer gear when responding to a fire, and avoid wearing it just for photo ops, in training or while waiting for the next call. They should keep the gear in a separate bay room, wash it regularly, and retire and replace gear once it is past its shelf life, because older, worn-out gear is more likely to shed the chemicals.
“I can’t even imagine all the ways firefighters are exposed to their uniforms, but the knowledge that we want to reduce everybody’s exposure until the gear is PFAS-free will help the firefighters balance the exposure risks with their necessary tasks,” Peaslee wrote in an email to The Morning Call. “With the knowledge of where the PFAS are, the fire departments can manage their own risks quite satisfactorily — they do this already every day in the larger arena.”
Jeremy Warmkessel, president of Local 302 IAFF representing Allentown firefighters, said the union is pushing in its next contract to replace worn-out firefighter gear with the Milliken PFA-free version. He acknowledged it would be cost-prohibitive to replace gear for all 140 firefighters who serve the Lehigh Valley’s largest city with new, PFA-free turnout gear.
Departments testing for cancer risks
Further, tests that can detect cancer early can vastly improve long-term cancer prognoses.
The Allentown Fire Department held a voluntary esophageal cancer screening in August, and Warmkessel said that the union negotiated additional blood cancer screenings into their contract that will take effect in January.
“Listen, we all know when we took this job that it is dangerous, but the stuff that is supposed to be protecting us is the stuff that is a contributing factor [to cancer]. That’s a problem,” Warmkessel said. “And I don’t know that we are going to get away from it immediately, but we definitely want to work toward getting it completely out of our gear, and making sure were taking care of the families when we have guys and women that contract cancer.”
According to Jimenez, the Bethlehem Fire Department requires an annual physical, but no mandatory comprehensive cancer screening. The department has applied for a grant to finance full-body cancer screenings for its firefighters, as well as a blood test that can test for 50 or more cancers.
In the 2026 state budget, Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a statewide investment in more comprehensive cancer screening for firefighters who risk their lives and safety to protect others. However, the two-month-and-counting budget impasse means that investment is in limbo.
“I know the governor has had [firefighter cancer screenings] as a priority, from what I understand,” Jimenez said. “I am hoping that that works out and we can all be afforded the testing that we deserve.”
Legislation
Efforts at the state level are also ongoing to prohibit manufacturing PFAS foam, fund more comprehensive cancer screenings and add warning labels to gear containing the hazardous chemicals.
A bipartisan bill, introduced last month in the state Senate, will ban the manufacture, sale and distribution of foam that contains PFAS beginning in 2026 in most cases. The bill — co-sponsored by state Sen. Nick Miller, D- Allentown — also would require warning labels on outer gear containing PFAS in that same time frame.
The bill has bipartisan support. Sen. Gene Yaw, a Republican representing a rural part of Pennsylvania including Williamsport, is a co-sponsor. Miller said he hopes to have the bill signed into law by the end of the year, and said he is pushing a “sense of urgency” about it to fellow lawmakers.
“These are the folks that are putting their lives on the line to protect our communities, and then there is equipment and foam that they are using that is putting them in harm’s way, just by using that type of equipment,” Miller said. “We want to make sure we address that in a meaningful way, and as quick as possible.”
The bill has been referred to the Veterans Affairs Committee, where it awaits a vote, though most state lawmakers are largely preoccupied with a state budget impasse that leaves many sources of government funding in limbo, including the comprehensive cancer screenings and a proposed $30 million competitive grant program for fire stations.
Brittany Tomczak urged lawmakers to see funding cancer screenings and banning PFAS manufacturing as a critical issue.
“I don’t think lawmakers always see the family side of this, because they are not the ones listening to the diagnosis and going to chemo treatments, laying in a hospice bed — they are not the ones that are faced with that,” she said. So I think the more that they see that, maybe their eyes will open and say, ‘Hey, look, we have really got to get this passed.’ This is a life or death situation.’”
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