It took almost three years to win presumptive staff’ compensation protection for breast, cervical, and different cancers that firefighters who work for federal businesses could develop due to hazardous exposures on the job.
Now, simply weeks after the Labor Division added protection for these sicknesses, firefighters fear the good points could also be in jeopardy after the Trump administration deleted details about the enlargement of protection for cancers that principally have an effect on girls and transgender firefighters from a federal webpage and ducked questions on whether or not it’ll uphold the coverage change made within the waning days of the Biden administration.
“It’s actually necessary to proceed to concentrate on making certain that those that commit their lives to defending the general public and communities proceed to obtain protection by means of the particular claims unit,” mentioned Pete Dutchick, a federal firefighter and volunteer with the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.
The Labor Division’s particular claims unit, established in 2022, processes all federal firefighter claims and offers a streamlined path for these with coated circumstances. Wildland firefighters and advocacy teams representing them celebrated that yr when federal officers moved to expedite staff’ compensation protection of cancers tied to their jobs. It was recognition that the risks of battling wildfires lengthen lengthy after a blaze is extinguished.
The record of cancers federal officers tagged for streamlined claims processes by means of the Labor Division’s Workplace of Staff’ Compensation Applications included esophageal, colorectal, prostate, testicular, kidney, bladder, mind, lung, thyroid, a number of myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, mesothelioma, and melanoma.
However that preliminary jubilation soured when it grew to become clear that breast, ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancers had been excluded, making a protection hole for greater than 2,700 folks, or about 16% of the greater than 17,000 federal wildland firefighters working for the Forest Service and the Inside Division. These are firefighters who’re dispatched to federal lands, like in nationwide forests and nationwide parks, and typically assist county and state crews, as they did when fires swept into Los Angeles in January.
“At first look, we had been ecstatic,” Dutchick mentioned. “After which we’re like, ‘Effectively, the place are the feminine cancers?’”
Dutchick, who has an 8-year-old daughter, was upset. “I actually need her to have equal protections in the case of well being if she chooses to get right into a discipline of public service,” he mentioned.
Then this yr, because the Biden administration wound towards an in depth, federal officers addressed the exclusion, including the cancers to the record in a last-minute change earlier than Donald Trump took workplace.
“This coverage change acknowledges the distinctive occupational hazards confronted by girls firefighters and ensures they obtain the care and assist they deserve,” Christopher Godfrey, the now-former director of the employees’ compensation workplace, mentioned in a Jan. 6 assertion on the Labor Division’s web site.
In a press release to KFF Well being Information 4 days later, Godfrey mentioned the coverage change resulted in fast motion for firefighters with new claims.
However within the early days of the Trump administration, the January press launch saying the most cancers protection enlargement was deleted from the Labor Division web site. When requested whether or not claims had been nonetheless being processed for the 4 just lately added cancers, a spokesperson for the employees’ compensation workplace, Frances Alonzo, informed KFF Well being Information, “We wouldn’t have any further updates relating to your inquiry.”
Formalizing the coverage change by means of rulemaking will take months and assist from Congress.
Kaleena Lynde is amongst a technology of ladies firefighters who developed most cancers earlier than streamlined protection for staff’ compensation claims existed. In 2006, Lynde, then 22, was recognized with small cell ovarian most cancers throughout her third fireplace season on the Shasta Lake Hotshots, an elite crew of firefighters in Northern California. Medical doctors eliminated a 5.4-pound tumor virtually instantly that yr. She’s now cancer-free, however solely after a number of surgical procedures, chemotherapy, and a further cervical most cancers prognosis three years later. Lynde has since gone on to work varied jobs for the Forest Service, together with 16 years at Eldorado Nationwide Forest doing fireplace investigation, fireplace prevention, and dispatch middle jobs. She now coordinates wildfire apprenticeships for the company’s Pacific Southwest area.
A buddy just lately despatched her a hyperlink to the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, a database monitoring the prevalence of illnesses amongst all firefighters, each structural and wildland. It made Lynde marvel — may her cancers be related to her work on the fireplace line?
“I simply thought I had unhealthy luck,” Lynde mentioned.
Looking for to repair the omission, greater than 15 wildland firefighter advocacy teams, representing Hotshot crews, smokejumpers, and others, signed a September letter to Julie Su, the appearing labor secretary on the time. They identified that different international locations, including Australia, already included presumptive protection for cervical, ovarian, uterine, and breast cancers.
The Labor Division applied policy changes that eased the necessities for protecting wildland firefighters’ cancer-related staff’ compensation claims in April 2022 by means of a Federal Staff’ Compensation Act bulletin. The foundations had been codified in December 2022 when President Joe Biden signed the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act.
To qualify, firefighters will need to have labored for not less than 5 years and be recognized inside 10 years of their final publicity. These with unlisted cancers may nonetheless file claims by means of a particular unit however wouldn’t obtain the identical streamlined adjudication for compensation. By September 2024, the employees’ compensation workplace had obtained 91 claims for qualifying cancers and coronary heart and lung circumstances. Of these, 89 had been adjudicated by means of the particular claims course of and 84, or 94%, had been accepted. Godfrey mentioned that previous to the laws, solely 29% of occupational illness claims for firefighters had been accepted.
Rachel Granberg, a wildland firefighter in Washington state, mentioned streamlined processing and reimbursements are necessary. “It actually provides folks extra bandwidth to fret about how they’re going to handle their life after a most cancers prognosis, relatively than simply combating for fundamental well being care.”
Too typically firefighters find yourself crowdsourcing for monetary assist after most cancers diagnoses, she mentioned.
George Broyles, retired firefighter and Forest Service researcher, mentioned that well being dangers are too typically seen as a part of the job. “Hazard pay just isn’t going to cease most cancers,” he mentioned. Broyles desires federal firefighting businesses to be trustworthy about most cancers dangers when hiring younger staff after which educate them on methods to guard themselves.
The latest coverage change meant claims for federal wildland firefighters with ovarian, breast, or uterine most cancers had been instantly directed to the particular claims unit and expedited processing.
The Labor Division’s determination to alter course and increase presumptive protection to feminine reproductive cancers was sudden. In December, the company launched a press release to KFF Well being Information saying such a change was unwarranted.
Three weeks later — with out pointing to any new revealed analysis — the company modified course, citing further session with the Nationwide Institute for Occupational Security and Well being and with Steven Moffatt, a health care provider who makes a speciality of firefighter sicknesses. The company conducts periodic evaluations to contemplate including new circumstances to its protection.
The Labor Division’s preliminary exclusion of feminine reproductive cancers illuminated the repercussions of analysis on wildland firefighter well being wherein girls are understudied. One review found that solely three out of 20 research evaluated girls firefighters’ most cancers threat.
However analysis has confirmed for years that firefighters are uncovered to poisonous risks. A study that followed Florida firefighters for nearly 20 years within the Eighties and Nineties discovered that firefighting will increase the general most cancers threat in feminine firefighters. In 2022, the Worldwide Company for Analysis on Most cancers classified firefighting as a cancer-causing occupation.
Latest analysis contributed to the company’s inclusion of feminine reproductive cancers, Godfrey mentioned. In 2023, a study determined a hyperlink between perfluorononanoic acid, a sort of PFAS, and uterine most cancers. PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of chemical compounds that a recent study found within the protecting gear worn by wildland firefighters. Additional research has additionally linked PFAS publicity to a rise in melanoma. A study published in September recognized 12 chemical compounds that firefighters are uncovered to on the job linked to breast most cancers.
However now, it’s unclear whether or not the Trump administration will roll again the brand new protection, leaving some federal firefighters not sure whether or not exposures on the job will depart them scrambling for care.
