Proposed Senate bill would give firefighters cancer death benefits

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Right now, Kentucky is just one of 15 states that does not offer death benefits to families of firefighters who die from cancer. But, a Senate bill set to hit the floor next week is hoping to change that status.

Multiple studies, including the University of Cincinnati (2006) and The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (2013) cancer studies, have found firefighters have an increased risk for developing cancer. Some of those results are chilling, showing firefighters are more than two times more likely to develop testicular cancer. Those studies also showed firefighters are more likely to get skin cancer, non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, prostate cancer, brain cancer, colon cancer and leukemia.

The proposed bill would provide a firefighter’s family, upon the firefighter’s death by cancer, $80,000. Paid and volunteer firefighters would be eligible if they’ve served five years consecutively, have not used tobacco in ten years and did not have a cancer diagnosis before joining the department. The coverage would end at age 65, but would cover the following cancers: bladder, brain, colon, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, kidney, liver, testicular, prostate, skin, cervical, breast and other blood cancers.

The current bill has an emergency clause so that if it passes the Senate and House, and the governor signs it into law, it could be enacted immediately. According to the president of Lexington Professional Firefighters, that could help a Lexington firefighter currently battling stage four cancer.

“I mean, that’s a small price to pay for somebody like Matt Logsdon, who has been a firefighter for ten years in Lexington,” says Captain Chris Barley, president of LPF. “He spent his life protecting the citizens of Kentucky.”

Supporters of the bill include the Kentucky Professional Fire Fighters, Kentucky Fire Chiefs Association, Kentucky Fire Association, Kentucky Fire Commission and Kentucky League of Cities. The KPLF says in both the House and the Senate, there is bipartisan support.

If it passes, those who die of cancer would also be added to the Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Lexington and Frankfort.