Firefighter cancer risk? Mass. officials warn toxic PFAS may be lurking in fire gear

Boston 25 News reporter Daniel Coats, a cancer epidemic in the fire field. That's how industry leaders are describing the growing risk for some of our first responders. Now one of the greatest concern past fires and heavy smoke exposure being what's in the gear that's supposed to protect them. This was definitely what I was meant to do. A calling not a job says Neil Furtado. The deputy chief has served Fall River since 2001, first on scene for some of the city's greatest tragedies. You'll see it. And that's where the radiation is currently doing its job. But this spring, he's trying to put out a fire of his own. Extensive thyroid cancer that's riddled across his neck, upper chest, and now his lungs and spine. Caught by union-sponsored screening last summer. We were on speakerphone in traffic on the Mass Pike, so it was the most classic, the most classic diagnosis you can get in Massachusetts, right? His colleague, Jason Burns, has been battling this epidemic for a decade. There are over 75% of line of duty deaths are related to cancer, so we have to be pretty dramatic and aggressive with this. The executive director of the Last Call Foundation made it his mission to keep firefighters safe. He's collaborated with Notre Dame professor Graham Peasley, testing fire gear across New England for PFAS, an invisible killer. If you are purchasing new gear, take one out of 50 and just confirm. It is regulated. It has to be under 100 parts per million. With my gear, it was sometimes between 400 and 500,000 parts per million. It was saturated. The forever chemical is linked to cancer. After Peasley found high levels of PFAS in the equipment, the city of Quincy decided to replace their gear through a $2.6 million bond this spring. Is this supposed to be PFAS-free gear? And he said, yes, of course. And I said, well, guess what? It isn't. He's found 80% of the gear he's sent daily is PFAS-safe, but 20% was manufactured with dangerously high levels and linked to higher cancer risks for firefighters. Like that's the stuff that's protected us. We don't need it to be hurting us. It's unclear if PFAS exposure led to Furtado's diagnosis, but he says, according to his doctor, his scans were incriminating. When I looked at the thyroid, I thought I was looking, I thought I was coming to see a 97-year-old smoker is what he said. Burns said roughly 40 departments in Massachusetts have sent gear out for PFAS testing, as have hundreds of others across the country in the past year. He called it an awakening for cities and towns nationwide to invest in their first responders with something they can avoid. You're either going to pay to make sure you protect your firefighters, or you're going to pay because you didn't protect them, right? So cost shouldn't be a factor. Let's do our best. Let's protect them. Now, Massachusetts passed new legislation effective January of 2027 banning manufacturers from selling any firefighter gear that has PFAS intentionally added into it in an effort to avoid more cancer concerns. I'm Daniel Coates for your local station, Boston 25 News.