Last week the province introduced a new strategy to reduce fatalities and serious injuries in the workplace, with one of those strategies aimed at preventing cancer in firefighters.

"We have very comprehensive legislation being added to every year," said Fire Chief Simon Almond with Weyburn Fire Services.

He said there are 16 separate cancers recognized by the province to be specific to firefighters.

"If you're a firefighter and you develop one of these cancers, then automatically, they're going to attribute that cancer to your job as a firefighter, whether you're a career firefighter or just a volunteer firefighter," he explained. "If you get one of those cancers, then they're going to attribute that, without argument, that cancer was caused by your performance being a firefighter."

He said the International Association of Firefighters and the province also recognize two injuries in their coverage for presumptive issues.

"The injuries being heart injury, and a physiological injury, that are automatically recognized," Almond said. "Saskatchewan is one of the top provinces in Canada that have this, and we're grateful for that."

Almond said the cancers are being caused quite directly from the particulates resulting from fires, and that things being burned these days, no matter what the things are, create a lot more danger than they have in past decades. He said they take a lot of steps, therefore, to attempt to alleviate the potential risks.

"One of the steps we're taking is that we're very conscious right now that we're always wearing our full bunker gear whenever we go to a fire," he said. "We're always wearing a breathing apparatus all the time because we're trying to minimize the exposure that our people get."

He said once they've had that exposure, they are trusting their protective equipment has indeed protected them.

"However we need to decontaminate that protective equipment after we're done, so that's why we're into bunker gear washing, that's why we're into decontaminating fire trucks and things like that," he explained.

"WorkSafe Saskatchewan commissioned a study a couple of years ago," Almond noted. "They're looking at your standard operating procedures, and how you deal with things like that."

He shared some of the WorkSafe Saskatchewan's recommendations.

"Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, we want that used from the incipient stage of the fire all the way through to the overhaul and investigating of the fire," he listed. "They want to see some decontamination of that gear on the scene, so we want to see the washing of personal protective equipment in specialized washers, which we have. They're looking at the storage of the fire gear, and one of the things they want to see is backup sets of personal protective equipment, and we're working on that through the budgetary process right now."

"They're looking at the diesel exhaust systems in fire stations, so we get rid of that kind of stuff," he added.

He said the organization also wants firefighters to document exposures.

"So we want to make sure that when we go to a fire, we document it, that someone's been exposed to it," he explained. "If we know what they've been exposed to, we can document it, so that in the future, should something happen they could say on that day they were exposed to this."

One item to take their protection to the next level is through particulate-blocking hoods.

"Yes, you'll have your protective equipment on, you'll have your bunker gear, you'll have your SUB on, however, we're looking at underneath that, so that particles can't get through, we're talking nano-particles and things like that," Almond shared.

He said they've implemented a lot of the recommendations, but budgetary considerations and due processes are how they ensure they have everything they need to stay protected.

For example, a set of bunker gear, with just the pants and coats, costs around $2,500 and comes with a 10-year life span. He said the breathing apparatus costs $5,000 per set.

"We have enough breathing apparatus, we believe, for every person on the fire scene," he noted.

Particulate blocking hoods go for around $200.

"Everything has a cost, and our Council is very supportive of the fire department and they do adequately fund us, however, as part of the budgetary process, we have to ask for these things," he said.

"We pride ourselves on doing a very professional job at the best of our abilities, and we pride ourselves as a City as to providing the tools necessary to doing that job, and this is just another tool that we need," Almond concluded.

Cancers presumed by the province to be directly related to firefighting include brain cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Leukemia, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, ureter cancer, testicular cancer, esophageal cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, multiple myeloma, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer.

Check out the WorkSafe Saskatchewan's Firefighter Cancer Action Plan Pilot Program HERE.