IN-DEPTH: Greatest Risk to a Firefighter’s Health is Not Fire
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) each year pays tribute to hundreds of fallen firefighters nationwide who lost their lives in the line of duty.
The 2023 Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial ceremony on Sept. 16 in Colorado Springs, Co., will honor 574 men and women who died or whose names were submitted to the IAFF between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2022.
Most of the fallen heroes who will be honored succumbed to one of the greatest threats they faced on the job—cancer.
Cancer is the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths in the fire service, according to IAFF. In 2022, three out of four, or 75 percent, of the names added to the memorial wall were fire service members who died from occupational cancer, the website states….