we see them all the time dangerous fires
requiring firefighters often times to
rush in to put them out at the very
least fighting toxic smoke from the
outside again and again it's no wonder
that the health risk from such a
repeated process is quite high
some reports suggesting a two-fold
underreporting a mesothelioma among
firefighters what can be done to make
this already dangerous profession less
dangerous for those putting their lives
on the line spring fire department may
have the right plan to do what it can to
reduce those risks here this morning
spring fire department chief scott
seyforth good to see you this morning
morning and senior captain Matt Corso
good morning to both of you got to see
you here how about how aware have both
of you been that there might be some
increased risks from firefighting
related to cancer for example well we've
known cancer has been around forever and
and you know we really didn't think
about it in the fire service until just
the last few years really mm-hmm and you
know it's now become a national
initiative to really focus on the fire
firefighters cancer so when you were
getting involved man I'm assuming just
because of the color of the hair that
you've been in a little less time than
you so when you got involved were you
the same attitude like let's just go we
want to fight fires you're not worried
about this other stuff yes sir I was 16
year old kid and started young I don't
know any different okay you got out
there and you did it now these days
because we know a little bit more about
that your department has instituted
something called life scan what is that
all about and how's that process work so
life scan is is a company that does
medical screenings health screenings it
consists of three different things it's
a life consult it's blood work and then
we actually do an ultrasound that goes
from about the neck to your upper thigh
and they they measure all your organs
and they look for any deformities or you
know large or small things like that
every firefighter yes well in our
department we've actually taken a step
further we actually do all the
firefighters whether they're part-time
full-time or
volunteer and we do our admin staff as
well and you Matt I know you credit this
test with maybe saving your life how did
that come about in 2016 when we started
the physicals I went in for my first on
I started with ultrasound and they found
a about a fist size mass in that no
symptoms no health issues nothing you
wouldn't know anything about ahead and
I've been for that my doctor speculated
about 8 to 10 weeks away from tailing
symptoms and I would probably have
beaten it but the outcome would have
been very different so that process now
after you came away from that you're
living testimony then to that process
yes sir you were talking earlier about
one of the biggest issues after the fact
you've taken it again since then the
biggest issue a lot of times is not
really wanting to know that morning one
of our deputy chiefs walked by and he
said oh you're doing tests today I said
yeah sure glad to know that you're
making me do it
and he said why is it so I don't I don't
want to know change a culture for the
fire department is absolutely absolutely
the you know the we've gotten a lot of
positive results in fact in 2017 which
was our second year to do it we found
others who were tested in 2016 that had
no issues that they did have issues in
2017 so it's it's affected our
organization and now we're trying to get
the word out there to every firefighter
in the world to let them know that they
need to start a conversation in their
department to to have their them be
proactive and and and do this for all
their firefighters Matt as a result of
what has happened with you and the
positive results your colleagues what
kind of feedback do you get from them
and how do you take a role in helping
them understand how important it is for
them to do this
I've been reached by multiple people
asking me how did they find this
including my oncologist she was very
surprised to see that my employer
provided this and so many people want to
know how can they get it done
how do I go about doing this and it was
given to me yeah so a gift if you will
and you have other things as well
understand I was just intrigued by a
sauna that you have there that you have
multiple bikes there and it made sense
really it's a way to kind of purge
toxins from the firefighters bodies
yes that's correct in fact we have one
at one station and after a fire the
crews go back in groups of four there's
a stationary bike inside of the sauna
there's four of them the crew goes in
there they're in there for 10 to 15
minutes and they sweat the toxins out
and you know it's a medical-grade sauna
so it's a dry sauna but they were
results have been incredible where we
would normally smell smoke for two or
three days after a fire as we take a
shower and things like that it's all
gone within 10 to 15 minutes and I'm
guessing to by the way that you the way
you work with your equipment I know a
lot of times guys have equipment and
they did they get take it take it off
then they put it back on that's not the
same way with you guys talk about the
differences in how you work with your
equipment at your station one of the
parts of this initiative is to give
everybody a second set of bunker gear so
if we respond to a fire we take that
gear off we hose it down at the scene we
take it off we bag it up so it never
enters the cab of the truck again it's
technically contaminated gear when I get
back to the station we decontaminate it
and put it in our gear washers in the
meantime so we can continue to respond
they have a second set of gear to put on
to continue to make runs all preventive
kind of measures yes absolutely
they also use white bees to wipe the
this suit off of them and so is so we
don't want it to absorb in our skin so
we do everything we can to keep that
from happening how many fire departments
in this area using this process the
sauna and so there's probably three or
four in in the Gulf Coast region that's
doing it but it's becoming a lot more
widespread and you'd love to see it I
would love to see every fire department
do what we're doing it's made a huge
impact
cost the the wellness exam is about $500
per firefighter so the cost of that so
much better than the cost of trying to
treat cancer well Matt says it best when
he says that a you know I'll let him say
it you know if they had to purchase us
dress uniform to bury me it would be
more money than his test
amazing amazing use of time and effort
thank you both for being appreciated
thank you for your service
glad to know about your your health the
status and oh by the way he is way over
achieved in the wife category I'll just
put that out there for everybody to know
thank you both for thank you really
appreciate you thank you