VIDEO: A bill before Nebraska lawmakers would provide workers’ compensation benefits to firefighters diagnosed with cancer without requiring them to prove their cancer came from the job.
LB-400 entered its first round of debate Monday. The bill was introduced by Sen. Dave Wordekemper of Fremont, a longtime firefighter. “Firefighters don’t want to die. They don’t want to leave their jobs, their families, their fellow firefighters,” Wordekemper said.
Wordekemper said firefighters face increased cancer risks compared to the general population. “Firefighters face a nine percent increase in cancer diagnosis, and a fourteen percent increase in cancer-related deaths compared to the general population,” he said.
“This isn’t speculation, this isn’t a theory, this is an established scientific fact from an independent international body,” Wordekemper said.
Trevor Towey, president of the Omaha Professional Firefighters union, said modern fires pose greater chemical risks than in previous decades. “Fires of today are not like the fires in the seventies and the eighties. The products that are inside homes burn faster, there’s chemicals in the fires and firefighters are exposed to that,” Towey said.
