From 2010 to 2018, 23 per cent of work-related occupational disease deaths in Saskatchewan were firefighter cancers, and in 2020, five firefighters lost their lives to cancer. That’s according to WorkSafe Saskatchewan which has announced a partnership with the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board and the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, the result of which is a series of videos to educate firefighters on how to better protect themselves from incidents and exposures on the job. The cancers come from the hazards they are exposed to when fighting fires.

Doug Lapchuk, president of the Saskatchewan Volunteer Firefighters Association and fire chief in Balgonie, says, “We train and train and train in case there’s a fire. There is no training in case there’s cancer. The only thing you can do is be proactive and be very diligent in the steps you take.” Firefighter cancer is the second leading cause of work-related occupational disease deaths in Saskatchewan.

Nikkii McClelland’s husband Darren McClellan, was the former fire chief in Swift Current. He passed away from work-related colon cancer in 2020. His daughters were 19 and 16 at the time. Nikkii is sharing here story to raise awareness and to help prevent other firefighters from being diagnosed and passing away from cancer because of jobsite exposures. She says, Every fire department needs to be on board with better gear, better oxygen masks, anything on how to keep those chemicals out of your system. Don’t say it won’t happen to me – it’s going to be okay, because it can change your life in an instant.

Click here for the videos.