Firefighter's Cancer Leads Wife to Discovery of Toxic Gear Killing Heroes Across U.S.: ‘It’s Infuriating’
Since 2002 cancer has been responsible for the deaths of almost two out of every three firefighters, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters
Christopher Churchill
“It’s infuriating that this could be allowed,” says Diane Cotter (with husband Paul at Franklin Street Station in Worcester, Mass., on Dec. 9)In the months following Paul Cotter’s 2014 prostate cancer diagnosis, his wife, Diane, watched helplessly as her once healthy and fit husband, a lieutenant with Massachusetts’ Worcester Fire Department, spent his days wasting away in the recliner.
“I couldn’t get him out of that chair,” says Diane, 63, of Paul, now 64. “He was literally leaving me physically and emotionally, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Diane was convinced that Paul’s cancer was the result of toxic smoke and gases he was exposed to because of a failure in the protective coat and pants — known as turnout gear — worn while battling fires. So one day she rummaged through his gear in the basement, inspecting it with his powerful flashlight, and made a startling discovery.
“I saw all these quarter- and dime-size holes in the crotch area,” she recalls. “I told myself, ‘Holy cow, this is how all these chemicals got into his body.’ ”
Diane has since been on a quest to understand what could have contributed to her husband’s diagnosis — and also to explain what’s behind the skyrocketing cancer rates among firefighters.
Christopher Churchill
Other Worcester, Mass., firefighters stricken with cancer have reached out to Paul Cotter for advice. “I’ve got a list of 55 guys,” he says. “Most of them have prostate cancer.”Since 2002 cancer has been responsible for the deaths of almost two out of every three firefighters, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).
What Diane — the subject of the recent Mark Ruffalo-produced documentary Burned: Protecting the Protectors — eventually learned is that the coats and pants that many of the nation’s 1.2 million firefighters depend on for protection against searing heat, liquids and smoke contain large amounts of the toxic industrial compound PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). This group of synthetic chemicals, used to repel water and prevent moisture-related burns, have been linked to a myriad of cancers and other health disorders.
“Initially I was searching to find information to prove that their gear didn’t contain these chemicals,” explains Diane, whose efforts have fueled pressure to develop PFAS-free gear for the nation’s firefighters. “But as I peeled back the layers, I realized that this gear that was meant to protect firefighters was actually killing them.”
Courtesy Diane Cotter
“It’s time for this story to be heard,” tweeted Mark Ruffalo (with the Cotters in 2019), who produced 'Burned,' the documentary about Diane’s crusadeThe news that upended the couple’s life came one morning not long after Paul had been promoted to lieutenant after 28 years as a firefighter.
“When the doctor dropped the bomb and said, ‘Well, it’s cancer,’ ” recalls Diane, “all I could think is, ‘This is a death sentence.’ ”
After her discovery of the holes in Paul’s protective pants, she began emailing everyone from firefighters to scientists while trying to learn everything she could about turnout gear. She soon began reading about how firefighters in Europe had begun moving away from using gear containing PFAS, which can be found in everything from dental floss to food packaging.
Christopher Churchill
“Diane is an absolute bulldog,” says retired firefighter Mark Whalen (left, with Paul Cotter at the Franklin Street Station on Dec. 9), who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020“I’d never heard of them before,” she says of the group known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment and in humans when absorbed through skin or inhaled.
When she couldn’t get a clear answer from manufacturers and IAFF officials about whether PFAS were used in the coats and pants worn by U.S. firefighters, in 2017 she found her way to Dr. Graham Peaslee, a nuclear physicist and professor at the University of Notre Dame who studies PFAS and agreed to test the gear.
“I barely graduated from high school, so initially I couldn’t understand much of his terminology,” says Diane.
Paul Shea
“She’s my mentor,” Diane says of Kathy Crosby-Bell (left, with Diane and Paul at the Massachusetts State House in November). Crosby-Bell's organization, Last Call Foundation in Memory of Fallen Firefighter Michael Kenned (named for her late son, who died in a 2014 tragedy), funded Diane's study“But he told me that the gear contained staggering amounts of PFAS, some of the largest levels he’d ever seen," she adds.
The findings, confirmed by an additional peer-reviewed study in 2020, helped Diane’s crusade. The IAFF joined her push for answers, and safer alternatives and efforts to ban the chemicals in gear are being reviewed in several states and Congress.
Related: 3 Firefighters Who Work Together Celebrate Becoming New Dads Within 24 Hours at Same Hospital
Though Paul has been in remission since 2020, Diane — whose 35-year-old son Pauly is a firefighter in Worcester — continues her advocacy to help change gear and save others’ lives.
Christopher Churchill
"My work is seeking justice," says Diane Cotter (with husband Paul at Franklin Street Station in Worcester, Mass., on Dec. 9)“There’s no joy in this,” she says. “But we’ve got to protect the next generation. The cost to Paul and myself was great. But the cost of doing nothing would be even greater.”
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