In partnership with the San Antonio Fire Department and the University of Miami Sylvester\u2019s Firefighter Cancer Initiative, UT Health San Antonio launched the San Antonio Firefighters Cancer Prevention Program<\/a> in 2025. The program\u2019s goal is to better understand and minimize cancer risk among local first responders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over 70 SAFD firefighters have been diagnosed with cancer in the past decade, including leukemia, myeloma as well as brain, thyroid, colon, prostate and testicle cancers, according to UT Health San Antonio.<\/p>\n SAFD was also one of the first<\/a> fire departments in the world to launch a quartermaster program, which provides clean gear to firefighters whose protective gear has been contaminated, limiting exposure to cancer-causing chemicals. The department also maintains an occupational cancer committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Martin De La Rosa, an SAFD firefighter, EMT and quartermaster, and Stephen Torres, a captain with SAFD who has battled cancer several times, spoke to the researchers, who had gathered for the university\u2019s fifth \u201cAdvancing Cancer for Latinos and All Populations\u201d conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou think of all the dangers and everything that we\u2019re a part of, \u2026 but by far the number one killer is cancer, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m here,\u201d De La Rosa said.<\/p>\n Firefighting cancer risk<\/p>\n Career firefighters are exposed to a litany of carcinogenic materials, from burning buildings to floodwaters, among other exposure points. De La Rosa presented photos of a firefighter covered in black, mud-like material from the interior of a burning building.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is covered in these elements of combustion,\u201d De La Rosa said. \u201c[The black material] is going to consist of the ceiling. It\u2019s going to consist of the insulation \u2026 of the wiring, the plastics, the metals, all the chemicals that go into that if they had anything stored in those attics, and they have burned all those plastics and all those toxins. It\u2019s all very carcinogenic.\u201d<\/p>\n Fire departments, union associations and governments have worked to reduce exposure to carcinogens in the past few decades, by discontinuing protective gear lined with PFAS<\/a>, also known as forever chemicals, and quartermaster programs.<\/p>\n The awareness around cancer risk has increased substantially since what Torres referred to as an \u201cignorance phase,\u201d when firefighters simply weren\u2019t aware of the occupational cancer risks, including himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Stephen Torres, a cancer survivor and captain with the San Antonio Fire Department speaks with researchers at UT San Antonio\u2019s cancer research conference on Feb. 19, 2026. Credit: Courtesy \/ UT Health San Antonio<\/p>\n