A FORMER Bradford firefighter is among those calling for more protection from exposure to "dangerously high" levels of harmful chemicals.

It comes after a BBC investigation for the Inside Out programme revealed firefighters in the UK are twice as likely to die from cancer as the general population.

They are being exposed to harmful toxins on their clothes and equipment which contain carcinogens.

Professor Anna Stec, Fire Chemistry and Toxicity Expert at the University of Central Lancashire, is looking at the harmful toxins that firefighters are exposed to. 

She said: “In my opinion, there is a direct link between a firefighter’s occupation and cancer. Firefighters are twice as likely to die when compared to the general population, and they’re dying from not one type of cancer, but they’ve got multiple types.”

Gerard Hollingworth worked as a firefighter in Bradford and as a fire instructor at the national training centre in Gloucestershire.

He has got cancer of the blood.

He said that, during the 90s, he’d often burn diesel as part of a training exercise.

“When we’d go in there on the petrochemical unit, the smoke was billowing round us, big thick black smoke that you couldn’t see through in a million years," he said.

"Our necks would be covered in the unburnt products of the diesel. We’d then sit around having tea, cakes or whatever for our break, still in the same kit.

"We only had two kits at the Fire Training Centre and if you’re out there a couple of times a day, every day, it only gets collected once a week. So you’re going to end up with a kit that’s been worn at least ten times. Looking back, it’s now shortened my life.”

He added: “We’ve got firefighters getting cancer on all watches and all stations and things need to be done about it. I’m angry after all this time that it’s going through congress in America, yet nothing seems to be happening in the UK.”

There are toxins and carcinogens in all fires, from a family BBQ at home to a blazing wall of fire in a house. Scientists believe there are 16 major compounds in carcinogens where the toxic concentration may lead to cancer - it’s all about the level of exposure.

Professor Stec added: “If you take firefighters in their clothing, in a hot environment, they start sweating, they start dehydrating, body temperature increases, and dermal intake or absorption via the skin is automatically increasing. It’s kind of working like a sponge for all the fire toxins.

“So we’re looking at the type of clothing.  We will heat it up, we will see if there are any contaminants within the deeper layers of the clothing, to see what effect and what danger and risk they will bring to firefighters.”

These contaminants are on a firefighter’s clothing and every firefighter must take responsibility for cleaning their kit after attending a fire. But there’s no national directive or standard in the UK telling firefighters how their kit should be cleaned. It’s down to individual brigades to decide that for themselves.

Stuart Elliott, Crew Manager at Durham Tees Valley Airport, said there isn’t always time to carry out the full decontamination process.

He said: “All of the carbon off the fuel, the rub off the tyres gets impregnated in to our kit so we’ve got to give ourselves a wipe-over until we get back to the station where we can do a deep clean on our kit in an industrial washer.

"However, sometimes we might get another call and then we haven’t got the luxury of getting the full decontamination of the kit and we’re going out on another incident.”

Harmful carcinogens can be passed from one place to another. A firefighter getting into an engine after a blaze could cause transference. Storing equipment is also problematic, helmets in particular have been found to contain the highest concentration of carcinogens, especially when gloves are stored in them.

Mr Elliott added: “Ideally we’d like another change of kit that we could have, we could disrobe out of, get in to our new kit just in case we get another incident and this could get bagged up. But the best we can do is give ourselves a wipe off, disrobe as best we can and go back to station. But the impregnated fire kit is still on the appliance. We’ve got what we’ve got.”

The UK’s Chief Fire Officer, Chris Davies, is the lead for Health and Safety at the National Fire Chiefs Council, said: “There is a lot of scientific and medical information out there, but all of it, that I’m aware of, states that you can’t prove or disprove a link to cancer.  

"What I do acknowledge is firefighters are contracting certain types of cancer above the population norm, I accept that and that is a concern. It does sound frustratingly slow, I will acknowledge that, but the assurances that I want to give is there is an incredible amount of work going on in the background to make this happen as quickly as possible. But, I do acknowledge that that’s not quick enough for some people.”

You can watch the full programme on BBC Inside Out in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire tonight at 7.30pm on BBC One. The programme will also be available to watch on the BBC iPlayer