(KTXL) — The Wildfire Conservancy is conducting a first-of-a-kind cancer study on firefighters battling the Palisades Fire. The goal is to track how the extreme conditions increase firefighters’ risk of cancer.
The study comes after the International Agency for Research on Cancer officially classified firefighting as a carcinogenic profession.
The initiative is a collaboration with Cal Fire, the National Firefighter Cancer Cohort Study, and the University of Arizona.
“This is the equivalent of a 9/11 scale exposure incident and we need to start treating them like this,” he said.
The 50 participating firefighters will have their blood drawn, provide a urine sample, and share personal details. They’re also given silicone wristbands that absorb contaminants like ash, soot, and smoke that will be tested.
“We are making plans with Cal Fire and others in the study to do a post-exposure, post-fire blood sample,” Rahn continues. “One of the things that we’re able to look at is micro-RNA in the blood because it’s a marker of how much DNA damage has been done.”
“A lot of these firefighters expect to, at some point, get cancer, and they know that what they’re doing today is helping future firefighters,” Rahn adds.
“We’ve had a number of young firefighters with young families that have passed away from cancer, and it’s absolutely devastating,” said Parker Wilbourn, Sacramento Metro Fire spokesperson. “It’s no longer the retired folks.”
“Here locally, we have a protocol to decontaminate after each incident but down south, when you’re at base camp or you’re deployed out, we don’t have those resources available,” Wilbourn said.
The team will conduct the study at the Palisades Fire for as long as it remains active.
