Mike Maria was so dedicated to his role as deputy captain of his local Rural Fire Service brigade that he called his home "the fire tower”.
From the patio at the front of his house in Queanbeyan near Canberra, which he shared with his wife Amelia, he would spend his summer evenings looking out across his town, watching for any sign of smoke.
“He loved being a hero, he loved helping people and making things better,” Ms Maria, who is herself a volunteer firefighter with the Queanbeyan City Rural Fire Service (RFS) brigade, told SBS News. “He really wanted to change the world. He used to joke that he would be prime minister one day.”
But his dreams of a political career would never be realised. Just over seven years ago, Mr Maria died after a 10-month battle with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Mike and Dennis while he was in hospital. Source: Supplied
He was just 26 years old at the time. The couple’s son, Dennis, was one.
“You can’t really explain to a one-year-old that daddy’s going to die,” Ms Maria, now 34, said. “[Now] he wants to know why ... and I don’t want to say ‘because the RFS didn’t provide the protection they should have.’”
In August last year, she was awarded a pay-out under changes to New South Wales' Workers Compensation Act. The meant any current or former firefighters who were diagnosed with one of 12 types of specified cancer would automatically be presumed to have developed it as a result of their job.
According to the legislation, the qualifying service period for leukaemia is five years. Mr Maria had been fighting fires for more than seven by the time he died.
While on duty he wore a fabric P2 mask, known as a "hot shield", which was a step up from the paper P2 masks provided by the RFS.
“You don’t volunteer with the RFS unless you know there are risks, but we had no idea that’s what the risks were. It wasn’t until later that I saw the statistics and evidence around just how high the risks are and just how common these cancers are among firefighters, at younger ages as well," Ms Maria said.
“The problem with cancer is that it’s not seen immediately. You don’t get a state funeral because you’ve died of cancer.”
It’s this lack of education about the risks of bushfire smoke that the Firefighter Coalition Aiming for National Carcinogen Exposure Reduction, known as Firefighter CANCER, is hoping to combat.
Brett Carle founded the Firefighter Coalition Aiming for National Carcinogen Exposure Reduction to increase education among firefighters on the risks of smoke. Source: Supplied
The coalition is also leading a push for the RFS, , to provide half-face respirator masks for its members.
A change.org petition organised by the group calling for better respiratory protection has so far attracted more than 180,000 signatures. Earlier this month, representatives from the group met with members of the NSW Government to deliver the signatures.
“Volunteers and firefighters in general have a knack for just getting the job done. We understand that there are inherent risks within the job. We accept those risks and we do that to serve the community,” Firefighter CANCER founder Brett Carle told SBS News.
“But that doesn't negate the responsibility of the organisation to provide better processes in order to deal with those risks.”
Brett Carle, state Liberal MP Melanie Gibbons, Ryan Cleggett from Firefighter CANCER and NSW RFS Senior Assistant Commissioner Bruce McDonald with the petition. Source: Supplied
The RFS currently supplies its members with disposable, paper P2 masks - the same ones many civilians in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra donned during periods of heavy smoke pollution earlier this summer.
But they don’t protect against all particles or gasses like carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and benzene.
Meanwhile, many firefighters worried about the carcinogenic chemicals within smoke have taken to purchasing their own full or half-face P3 (or higher) masks at a cost of between $100 and $500.
“A lot of the chemicals within the bushfire smoke have an accumulative effect. So the longer and more increased exposure, the higher the likelihood of getting cancer,” Mr Carle, himself a firefighter, said.
He warned that with longer and hotter fire seasons we could see a “cancer epidemic”.
But despite the concerns of some members, the RFS maintains that disposable P2 masks are “fit for purpose” and the most practical method of managing smoke while also “taking into account other risks such as the displacement of metabolic heat”.
Left: a disposable P2 mask as supplied by the RFS. Right: a half-face respirator mask with ABEK and P3 filters, as recommended by Firefighter CANCER. Source: Supplied
They also told SBS News that P3 face masks, worn by some firefighters, interfere with the correct fit of goggles, helmets and flash hoods, and “increase the likelihood of heat stress”.
Mr Carle and Ms Maria dispute that this is the reality for people on the firefront already wearing the masks and instead say the biggest challenge is instigating a culture shift that encourages volunteers to take their health seriously.
“The great ethos of firefighters is they will put themselves in harm's way to protect their community,” Mr Carle said. “But the best way you can serve your community is by increasing the duration of your service - and that means staying healthy.”
An RFS spokesperson said they would be reviewing their policies on protective gear, including respiratory protection, at the end of the current fire season.
University of Technology Sydney Professor Brian Oliver, who specialises in respiratory diseases, told SBS News it was likely bushfire smoke could be carcinogenic in large doses, but a lack of research meant the extent of the risk was unclear.
“We know that any noxious gas we breathe in is bad for us, but the big unknown with bushfire smoke is how bad that is going to be,” he said.
“Intuitively, I would say that the [P2] mask would offer some level of protection, but whether that’s full protection or not we just don’t have enough evidence.”
This year’s fire season has been one of Australia’s worst on record, with catastrophic conditions leading to deadly fires across the country - some burning for months on end.
“If this bushfire season becomes the new norm and we have people that have a massive exposure year in, year out then there will be an increased risk of a range of diseases, including cancer,” Professor Oliver added.
On whether there needs to be more research before a new standard of equipment can be introduced, Mr Carle is unequivocal.
“How many more people are we willing to sacrifice along the way? How many more instances of cancer do we deem acceptable before we make the change? For us the answer has to be zero,” he said.
“Yes, they [volunteer firefighters] want to help their communities, but we should be stepping up and helping them more because to not do that, whenever we thank them for their service, it's a real shallow thank you.”
Mike and Amelia with their son Dennis. Source: Supplied
Ms Maria . Using $6,576 of the compensation money she received for her husband's death, she purchased a set of 20 full face masks with ABEK HGP3 filters for the Queanbeyan RFS brigade.
“I don’t think I could have had that money in any good conscience knowing ... that there is a very real chance any one of them could end up in the same circumstances,” she said.
“These are volunteers, people are giving up everything to be there for their community. That cost shouldn’t be cancer.”
