Firefighter Profile: Justin Beede Helps Fight Cancer-Causing Toxins in Fires

Sunset firefighter Justin Beede.

You might think battling flames to put out a fire is the most dangerous thing a firefighter faces. But cancers caused by toxins in smoke and ash kill more active-duty firefighters than the fires themselves. Indeed, firefighters are 14 times more likely to get cancer than the general public. San Francisco has played a major role in understanding these cancer risks and reducing toxin exposure. Two firefighters from the Sunset are the latest to help with that research.

As part of a new study, firefighters Justin Beede and Josh Rademacher, from Station 18 on 32nd Avenue, wore silicone wristbands while on duty for a week. The wristbands are similar to the ones people wear to show support for causes.

It turns out silicon wristbands absorb some kinds of toxins (specifically semi-volatile organic compounds) as you go about your day, creating a record of your cumulative exposure.

Beede and Rademacher, along with eight other firefighters at different stations throughout San Francisco, wore wristbands during their work shift. They would then put the band into a sealed package where it remained while they were off-duty. When they returned to work, they would put the wristband back on. After a week, the wristbands were sent to the University of Oregon for analysis of the toxins each firefighter was exposed to during the week’s work.

Data from the San Francisco firefighters will be compared to similar information gathered from firefighters in Paris. The Parisians have similarly high cancer rates, but their department has not taken as many preventive measures as San Francisco has.

“Paris is where we were 15 years ago,” according to Adam Wood, an active San Francisco firefighter who is also vice-president of the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation.

For example, unlike Paris, every firehouse in San Francisco now has specialized washing machines – called “extractors” – that, after each fire, thoroughly clean the protective clothing worn by firefighters, known as turnout gear.

In the past, Wood says, if you walked into a station, you’d know if there had been a fire because it “smelled like a barbecue.”

Firefighters would often walk around in their gear. At most, they’d hose the gear down and maybe scrub it a little. But the smell persisted, evidence, we now know, that toxins from fires remained on the clothing, continuing to expose the men and women to the cancer-causing chemicals.

Because of the use of the specialized extractors, if you walk into a station today, “you’ll see a wall of drying turnout gear and there’s no smell,” Wood says.

Ironically, even the turnout gear itself, designed to protect a firefighter from fire, contains cancer-causing chemicals as part of that protection. San Francisco and other departments are working to reduce – if not eliminate – those chemicals from their gear. 

The San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Fund has advocated for many of these changes. The nonprofit was created in 2007 when Tony Stefani, Captain of Rescue Squad 1 in downtown San Francisco, approached the firefighters’ union. He had been diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer, and he had realized that other men and women he worked with had also been diagnosed with similar cancers.

Stefani suggested the union help establish a nonprofit to fund research, prevention, and advocacy to reduce the profession’s cancer risk. The union provided seed money, but the foundation is independent of both the union and the department. 

The nonprofit also helps firefighters navigate the health care system if they are diagnosed with cancer, to ensure they get the best care possible. The number of people at any one time being helped in this way has remained fairly steady – about 50 or 60 – since the program started. Wood notes, “when that number goes down, that’d be a sign we’ve turned the corner on this.” 

The foundation is well known in firefighting circles. That’s likely how the researchers in Oregon and Paris knew to contact San Francisco to join the wristband research study. 

The study results have not been published yet, but the hope is that San Francisco’s proactive measures – like the common use of turnout extractors – will reduce overall toxin exposure when compared to Parisian firefighters who lack access to those same measures.

“I took part in the study,” Beede says, “because we need to know more about the toxic exposure we have in this occupation. We know we get exposed to all kinds of nasty stuff when we go to fires, but what about the firehouse itself? What about the apparatus we ride around in? What about the turnouts? There’s much to learn, and studies like these can help.”

Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Sally Stephens. We encourage retired journalists and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.