Panama City, Fla. – Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis delivered the first set of firefighter cancer-fighting decontamination kits to the Panama City Fire Department today. The Post Fire On-Scene Decontamination Kits were created in partnership with the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and will help mitigate firefighters’ exposure to cancer-causing products of combustion.

 

CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “It was a privilege to stand in my hometown today with the brave men and women of the Panama City firefighting community to present these cancer-fighting decontamination kits. Cancer rates in our firefighters are alarming and we can’t stand by another year and let our first responders shoulder the financial burden for cancer treatment. Cancer caused 70 percent of career firefighter line of duty deaths across the nation. We must make sure these heroes have the tools needed to stay healthy and safe.”

 

Four thousand decontamination kits will be distributed throughout Florida. More than 1,000 kits have already been distributed with the remainder of the kits to be delivered in the coming weeks. Each kit includes the tools needed for firefighters to effectively clean gear after a fire.

 

The decontamination kits were awarded through a $1 million grant to the firefighter cancer mitigation grant program. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center has developed a website, www.sylvesternewbadgeofhonor.com, which contains related educational materials, along with other resources designed to help educate firefighters about cancer risks and processes that might help reduce those risks.