Firefighters three times more likely to die from certain types of cancer – study

The study also reported higher levels of heart disease and lung diseases such as asbestosis, pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis among firefighters. Photograph: Adam Murphy/Alamy

Firefighters are more than three times as likely to die from certain cancers than the general population, probably due to exposure to toxic chemicals while battling blazes, a study has found.

Rates of prostate cancer, leukemia and oesophagal cancer appear to be 3.8, 3.2 and 2.4 times higher than the norm and overall firefighters have faced cancer death rates 1.6 times higher than the general population, according to the study published this week in the peer-reviewed Journal of Occupational Medicine.