Research shows firefighters are at increased risk for developing cancer due to toxic exposures on the job, but while all 50 states and the District have created laws to provide benefits for firefighters with certain cancers, the News4 I-Team found many say the process in getting that help is fraught and the list of covered cancers is too narrow.
Before D.C. firefighter technician Steven Shipp passed away in April after developing colorectal cancer, he called for change to the system designed to protect firefighters like him.
“Our jobs should be fighting for our lives, not fighting for what we deserve,” Shipp told the I-Team in February, as he recovered from invasive surgeries and intensive 52-hour chemotherapy sessions. “I’m going to die from this because of my job … I’m not asking for anything that I don’t deserve.”…