JACKSONVILLE, Fla -- Fighting fires is a dangerous job.
An ongoing Action News Investigation reveals how dangerous the job can be, even in retirement.
We uncovered the dangers behind toxic smoke firefighters come in contact with while at fire sites, even after flames have been extinguished. Hazardous chemicals and toxins released by the heat of the fire can linger on firefighters gear.
Studies in South Florida show an increase in cancer among firefighters. Many of those fire crews think those toxins could be to blame.
Fighting that cancer can not only take a toll on firefighters, but also their families.
Karen Love is one of a growing number of firefighter widows. She recently attended a luncheon for local women who have lost firefighter husbands.
"You look around and it really makes you start thinking, all of these women are widows," Karen Love said. "I hate that word. I wish they would come up with another word."
Love was married to JFRD Captian Davis Love for nearly 39 years when he died in 2010 from cancer complications.
It's been four years, but Love still struggles with her husband's absence.
"To tell you the truth, I don't even remember leaving that room," she said.
He died right in front of her eyes from cancer complications. Davis Love's diagnoses came at the same time their grandson Cayden was also battling cancer. Cayden still fights today but Davis Love had less than six months from his diagnosis to his death.
"His first hospital bill was $682,000," said Love.
Mary Ann Ray knows the cancer, the fight, and the bills all to well.
"One of them was around $240,000," Ray said.
Her husband was JFRD Captain Lloyd Ray. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer while an active-duty Jacksonville firefighter.
"He lived it, he breathed it. It was his life," Ray said.
Both women feel their husbands paid for that love of firefighting with their lives.
Thirty-three states recognize firefighters have an increased risk of developing cancer. Florida and Georgia do not.
Experts say firefighters are exposed to toxins and carcinogens that can be deadly.
Both Captain Love and Captain Ray spent decades running into the city's burning homes and businesses. Davis Love was a founding member of the nation's first ever hazardous materiuals team here in Jacksonville.
That hazmat crew caught in action at this chemical leak at Union Camp. A tank of anydrous hydrogen chloride was leaking. When mixed with water, it becomes hydrochloric acid. Despite warnings to stand down at the scene, Love and another firefighters rushed into the danger zone without protective gear to help save a firefighter whose hazmat suit was melting from the acid.
"I asked him once when he was on hazmat, 'Do you ever worry about all those chemicals?' He said 'No, not really," said Love.
Thirty-nine firefighters were injured in the Kenco chemical fire in Jacksonville in 1979. A wounded Davis Love is pictured on the front page of the Times-Union.
A second firefighter pictured, Wayne Washington, would later die of cancer, like Love.
Lloyd Ray was also hurt that day. Mary Ann remembers getting a call from her husband that day. "He feels like that may have been something there as a beginning of cancer," she said.
Her high school sweetheart died seven years ago, but Mary Ann talks about him often in the present tense and she still wears her wedding ring.
Both women said their families would have been financially devastated if their husband's had not opted to pay additional money out of every paycheck for cancer insurance. We checked with the city and it is still available with a monthly premium.
While different for each state, cancer presumptive legislation could help with the financial cost associated with cancer. It could also allow the family to receive death benefits if the firefighter is honored as fallen in the line of duty.
WJAX
