01/16/2026
We were so thrilled to see our friend Foster featured on Sylvester’s Firefighter Cancer Initiative post! Foster has been doing amazing research and advocacy around cancer in the fire service. We were lucky to have her present at our very first Women of Rescue Conference and she was a presence in our second as well.
We can't get enough of her energy and passion! Come see her again at our Female Firefighter Camp this spring!
Volunteer firefighters make up almost 70% of U.S. firefighters, according to the US Fire Administration. Their challenges often differ from career firefighters, and with those challenges, come unique risks.
In Florida, an SFCI study found the female volunteer firefighters face higher odds of developing kidney cancer. As to the cause and why kidney cancer, more research is needed. Firefighter cancer research is still relatively new and our understanding of volunteer firefighters is even more limited, especially in female volunteer firefighters. Our job is to continue educating the public about those unique risks discovered in our research. The work continues!
Source: 📝 Caban-Martinez, A. J., Koru-Sengul, T., McClure, L. A., Pinheiro, P. S., Hernandez, M. N., Kobetz, E. N., & Lee, D. J. (2024). Odds of Developing Cancer Among Male and Female Volunteer Firefighters in Florida: A Case-Control Study Design. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 66(10), e442–e445. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000003178
