Alberta firefighters covered for more cancers

Four more types of cancer have been added to Workers Compensation Board's list of occupational illnesses for firefighters.

The announcement Wednesday, from Alberta Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, brought firefighters in the room to their feet.

"The firefighter that's dying of an occupational cancer … it gives him some relief to the family that he leaves behind that they will be recognized as a line of duty death and there will be compensation there," said Craig Macdonald, the president of the Alberta Fire Fighters Association.

Research has shown that firefighters suffer a higher rate of cancer than the general population, but Lukaszuk says we still don't know why.

"Science doesn't exactly link what agents, what chemicals, are there that actually cause firefighters to develop these cancers, but nonetheless we know that there is a cause-effect relationship between the two," he said.

The WCB list now covers 14 types of cancer, including the new additions of prostate, breast, skin and multiple myeloma. Pat Duggan, a firefighter in Fort McMurray, says young recruits know that cancer is part of the job risk, but for him quitting isn't an option.

"No. I wouldn't leave for anything," he said.