Cancer concerns heighten safety precautions at Lehigh Fire Department

Lehigh Acres Fire Fighter has battled with fire many times and came out on top, now he hopes to do the same thing with his latest battle, and it doesn’t involve flames.

Lehigh Acres Fire Chief, Robert Dilallo was 30 years old when doctors diagnosed him with cancer.

“They basically said you know, this type of cancer you can only get from number one smoking or exposures to commercials carcinogens,” said Dilallo.

Breathing in carcinogens and harmful toxins from fires, clinging to equipment gear, advocates say it’s causing cancer and killing fire fighters around the nation.

“Of those 277 names, 211 of them were attributed to cancer,” said Heather Mazurkiewicz of firefighter cancer support network.

Lehigh fire fighters now have specially designed hoses and cleaning supplies in these decontamination buckets to remove harmful toxins.

“They’re teaching us ways to take that off, to hose it off, to clean it off,” said Lieutenant Robert Pitter of Lehigh Fire Department.

Items in the bucket include everyday items like soap or wipes, but experts say everything in the bucket will truly make a difference.

“We’re going to change the culture in the fire service to make sure that we are taking these measures to reduce our risks of being diagnosed,” said Mazurkiewicz.

Chief Dilallo came out on top with his most recent battle when doctors were able to remove his cancer early, but now he’s on a mission to make sure others stay clear so they can continue to protect the community.

“We love what we do, we love putting out fires and we love helping people.”