Grayslake Fire Dept. Addresses Cancer Concerns

GRAYSLAKE, IL — The Grayslake Fire Protection District is working to address and prevent cancer deaths among its firefighters. After two of the district's firefighters died because of cancer in recent years, the department decided to bring in Firefighter Cancer Consultants to evaluate its three stations, their policies and procedures, equipment and people to "see how we were doing and if we could do better," according to a post on the Grayslake Fire Department Facebook page.

The evaluations also come following recent conclusions by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that firefighters face a 9 percent increase in cancer diagnoses, and a 14 percent increase in cancer-related deaths compared to the general U.S. population.

This week, Grayslake fighters are in class with the Firefighter Cancer Consultants to talk about what they can do and the results of the assessment.

"We are ecstatic to hear we are doing well. We are working to correct the items on our list and hope to keep all our personnel healthy and safe," according to the Facebook post.