12/21/2015
The Sunday Preach:
"The 2 C's"
If you have followed us for any length of time you know our stance on COMPLACENCY in the fire service. Complacency, when left to fester in one person, one company or one department, (while difficult to document with statistics) that complacent attitude, can be a killer. We must prepare for the fire of our career each and every time out the door.
The other C is CANCER. Anyone who is or knows someone who is fighting cancer, knows it is indeed a fight... a fight for your life. Physical and emotional scars run deep during and after this fight. In our line of work, and in our generation, we are seeing a spike in the number of brothers and sisters who are having to make this fight their own.
While their is no 'magic pill' for cancer prevention, we need to take a hard look at the routes of exposure, job specific for us as firefighters and fire officers. We owe it to those in the fight, and those we love to minimize our risks.
WEAR YOUR MASK...
"If the fire is knocked down and you are opening up and washing things down, keep using your SCBA to protect yourself. Often it isn't just one acute exposure, but the culmination of several years of smaller chronic exposures to these toxic fire byproducts." (Page 47).
Please, especially during the overhaul phase of operations... we must wear our masks.
Please google the 'UL Smoke Study' conducted a few years back and see the cancer causing substances that were routinely found in 'overhaul air'. Pair that with the White Paper from The Firefighter Cancer Support group at: firefightercancersupport.org and you can see, the days of black soot overhaul snot nosed boogers needs to come to an end. While nothing we do is sterile, we must see the chances to minimize the risks where we can.
We owe it to those suffering with CANCER to support them and minimize our chances at every turn. Cancer Sucks, period.
(background photo: Nate Ciamford)
