'Sadly, we're losing people now to more insidious, long-term conditions'
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Calgary firefighters remembered four more people in their ranks who died due to illness related to their jobs.
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Harry Skakum, John Doherty, Roger Thompson and Donald Taylor died of occupational-related cancers last year, according to the City of Calgary. Their names were among the 58 read aloud Tuesday at the annual memorial service held outside city hall, as a bell clanged for every person on the list.
The memorial includes both firefighters who have died directly in the line of duty and those who lost their lives to a cause related to their work. Firefighters are at increased risk for certain cancers and other health issues because they’re often exposed to smoke and hazardous materials on the job.
Fire Chief Steve Dongworth said the Calgary Fire Department hasn’t had a firefighter killed at a scene since 1992, but adding four names to the memorial in a single year is unfortunately not uncommon. Of the 58 names on the memorial, 49 died from illnesses related to firefighting.
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“Sadly, we’re losing people now to more insidious, long-term conditions,” he said.
“The challenge with the cancers is there’s a lag effect where you don’t actually see the impact of what you’re doing today for decades.”
He said there are now many more protections in place for firefighters. Protective equipment and training has improved, and firefighters all have access to a full medical screening every year.
The firefighters being recognized Tuesday were all on the job decades ago, retiring between 1979 and 1994.
“I’m really confident we’re going to get 20, 30 years down the road, and hopefully we’ll get to a place where we aren’t adding four names every year,” Dongworth said.
The fire chief also addressed the challenge COVID-19 has posed over the past 18 months. He said CFD has only seen about 100 people contract COVID out of a 1,500-person workforce, a much lower rate than what he’s heard from fire departments in other cities.
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“Across North America, we’ve lost hundreds of our firefighters to this terrible disease,” he said.
“The risk weighs heavily on all firefighters and leadership, and we must continue to take care of ourselves and each other and take every precaution possible.”
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, speaking at the memorial as mayor for the final time, reflected on the personal toll and sacrifice that firefighters and their families make.
“The losses we’ve sustained in this last year are tough to imagine, but they’re also opportunities for us to understand how our heroes put the needs of many ahead of the needs of their own,” he said.
Twitter: @meksmith
Calgary firefighters memorial adds four new names - Calgary Herald
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