January is Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month, a time to highlight the incidence of cancer among firefighters through exposure to toxins while fighting fires.

Joe Power with the Labrador West Fire Department was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2019 which Workplace NL recognized was caused by firefighting.

He says more firefighters are talking about their own experiences and the public is becoming increasingly aware of the cancer risks faced by firefighters.

He says each province has its own legislation, each with a different list of recognized forms of cancer. “We need it to be the same all across Canada,” says Power. “We need to develop a national framework that raises awareness of cancer that’s linked to firefighting.”