Three city firefighters painted a grim portrait as they sat in front of a wall plastered with images of their fallen comrades. These colleagues did not perish in a raging fire or after falling into a collapsing building. They all succumbed to cancer.

"The first thing that went through my head when the doctor said I had cancer was that, 'I'm going to die,' " Firefighter Mark Matthews says in the video. "The question I asked him was: 'When?' "

"It's killing our members, simple as that," Fire Commissioner Joseph E. Finn says in the video. "The one thing that is going to kill firefighters more quickly than a building collapse, more quickly than getting trapped - it's cancer."

The video is part of Finn's appeal to the city's 1,400 firefighters to always wear their protective gear - including hoods and air masks - even as a blaze retreats and begins to smolder. Chronic exposure to heat and smoke toxins leaves firefighters vulnerable and at risk. You know that, but perhaps this video will drive the point home to every Firefighter.

The FCSN (Firefighter Cancer Support Network) white paper has been downloaded thousands of times...keep downloading:
"Taking Action Against Cancer in the Fire Service"---take a moment to download it, read it, post it and pass it on.. If nothing else, check out PAGE 15 of the document.

Here's the document link:
Taking-Action-against-Cancer-in-the-Fire-Service.pdf

Many thanks to BiilyG and the www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com

								To Kolb