The Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study is perhaps the most comprehensive effort ever undertaken to understand and address firefighter cancer. The project seeks to track the exposure and biometric data of 10,000 firefighters over the course of 30 years with the hopes of gaining insight into the factors that cause cancer in firefighters and what actions can be taken to reduce the risk. The project, which began in July 2016, has at least 12 different cancer-related studies completed or underway on everything from PFAS to wildland firefighting exposure to female firefighter health.

Today on the podcast, we welcome Dr. Jeff Burgess, the director of the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study, and Casey Grant, the former of executive director of the Fire Protection Research Foundation. We chat about how this massive project works, its notable findings on a wide range of cancer-related topics, and why researchers are confident that we will significantly curtail firefighter cancer within the next 20 years.

Links:

Visit the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study homepage to learn more about its various studies and findings

Read about the education session that Burgess and Grant will give at the 2026 NFPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas this June