Firefighters face cancer risks
John Gray's father was a firefighter in Hamilton for 28 years. In all that time, the son never imagined his father's death the way it happened.
"I've imagined roofs caving in, stairwells caving in, being trapped in a fire the very immediate kinds of injuries," Gray said.Last August, Gray's father died of brain cancer.
"This one came from inside and took him little by little from the inside out," Gray said. "It didn't take him all at once."
When the brain cancer was diagnosed, Gray's father's Worker's Compensation application was processed and approved in an hour.
That's because brain cancer in firefighters with 20 years experience is so common, it's automatically compensated in Ontario as a workplace injury.
Bill Cole, president of Ottawa Professional Firefighters Association says every firefighter in Canada knows someone with the disease.
"What I find just amazing is that we're just experiencing all these brain cancers in the fire service," Cole said. "It's just happening boom, boom, boom.
"It's a bit overwhelming and we do have those scientific studies that are now backing us up. It's something that we've intuitively known there for years."
More than 10 studies show a statistical link between brain cancer and fighting fires. Researchers just aren't sure what that link is.
There is a strong suspect for the cause: exposure to toxic fumes, gases released when plastics and synthetic materials burn. Those materials are found in every house, every car in every fire.
Ontario is the only province that accepts the statistical evidence and provides Workers Compensation to veteran firefighters with cancer.
In other provinces, trying to get compensation is a long and difficult process.