HFBA Supports Women’s Health

The HFBA is proud to support raising awareness and funds for Women’s Health issues during the month of October.  2026 t-shirt sales and pink patches are live.  Join us for another Coffee With A Cause Mammovan event with Dark Moon Coffee Roasters and the Nevada Health Centers October 15th.

This year the HFBA is donating proceeds from our pink sales to Angels of Las Vegas, a local non-profit dedicated to helping children and adults who need support going through cancer and life threatening illness, as well as SAFE House a local Henderson non-profit that provides shelter, counseling, advocacy, housing assistance, and education to victims of domestic violence. 

What are some of the latest statistics related to cancer in the fire service?

Cancer remains one of the most significant occupational threats facing firefighters. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) identifies occupational cancer as the leading cause of line-of-duty death in the fire service. In 2025, nearly 80% of IAFF member line-of-duty deaths were attributed to occupational cancer.

Research conducted by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), involving nearly 30,000 career firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia, found that firefighters had a 9% higher rate of cancer diagnoses and a 14% higher rate of cancer-related death compared with the general U.S. population.

The long-term impact of occupational cancer continues to be studied. The CDC/NIOSH National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, the largest effort ever undertaken to study cancer among U.S. firefighters, surpassed 40,000 participating firefighters in 2026. The registry is designed to improve understanding of the relationship between firefighting exposures and cancer, including risks among women, volunteer firefighters, wildland firefighters, and other historically understudied populations.

In another major development, the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act was signed into federal law in December 2025, recognizing certain occupational cancers as line-of-duty deaths under the federal Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program.

Breast Cancer

The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 321,910 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the United States in 2026, along with approximately 60,730 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Approximately 42,140 women are expected to die from breast cancer in 2026.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among U.S. women other than skin cancers and accounts for approximately 1 in 3 new cancers diagnosed in women each year. The average U.S. woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is approximately 1 in 8, or 13%.

Family history remains an important risk factor. Having one first-degree relative—such as a mother, sister, or daughter—with breast cancer nearly doubles a woman’s risk. However, most women who develop breast cancer do not have a strong family history of the disease.

Inherited genetic changes account for only a minority of breast cancers. Approximately 5%–10% of women with breast cancer may carry an inherited harmful variant in BRCA1 or BRCA2, although other inherited genes can also increase breast cancer risk.

Women who inherit harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 variants face substantially greater lifetime risks than the general population. Current National Cancer Institute guidance estimates that more than 60% of women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 variant will develop breast cancer during their lifetime, compared with approximately 13% of women in the general population. A major prospective study estimated breast cancer risk by age 80 at approximately 72% for BRCA1 carriers and 69% for BRCA2 carriers. These genetic variants are also associated with substantially increased ovarian cancer risk.

Female Firefighters and Cancer

Women remain significantly underrepresented in occupational firefighter cancer research. According to the IAFF, women currently comprise approximately 9% of the fire service, and researchers continue to identify important gaps in understanding cancer, reproductive health, and long-term occupational exposures among female firefighters.

Earlier research and reports from San Francisco raised particular concern about breast cancer among female firefighters. San Francisco has historically had one of the highest percentages of women firefighters among large U.S. fire departments, and studies have identified potentially concerning cancer patterns and occupational exposures in this population.

However, older claims that 15% of San Francisco female firefighters ages 40–50 had developed breast cancer—six times the national average—should be treated cautiously. These figures came from a relatively small population and were not the result of a large epidemiological study capable of establishing that San Francisco female firefighters have six times the breast cancer risk of women generally.

More recent research continues to investigate the issue. A longitudinal Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study notes that a previous retrospective study observed a 45% higher rate of breast cancer among career female firefighters compared with the U.S. population, although that increase was not statistically significant. Researchers are now enrolling substantially larger numbers of women firefighters to determine whether occupational exposures are associated with elevated breast cancer and other cancer risks.

The evidence regarding occupational cancer in women firefighters is therefore still developing, but researchers and fire-service organizations increasingly recognize the need for improved exposure reduction, cancer screening, surveillance, and long-term research.