FARMINGTON — The Firefighter Safety Equipment Fund, a new state grant program to help reduce cancer risks among firefighters came about through the efforts of two Farmington men and applications are now being accepted.

Rep. Scott Landry, D-Farmington at left and Stephan Bunker, a firefighter with Farmington Fire Rescue Department are seen with the information packet for the new Firefighter Safety Equipment Fund. The grant program will provide money for Maine fire departments to install specially designed “extractor” washing machines and diesel exhaust systems to help reduce exposures to carcinogens. Submitted photo

To combat the number one cause of death among firefighters in Maine and across the country and ensure a reduction in exposures to carcinogens, the goal of the new program is to provide fire departments with grants to purchase and install heavy duty “extractor” washing machines and diesel exhaust systems, according to the information packet from the Maine Fire Protection Services Commission.

Applications are due Feb. 28, 2025. A department may apply for both a washing machine and an exhaust system but separate applications must be submitted.

Stephan Bunker, a firefighter with Farmington Fire Rescue Department was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2022 and since then has been  trying to prevent other first responders from unknowingly being exposed to hazardous materials on the job.

Bunker and Rep. Scott Landry sat down with The Franklin Journal on Oct. 30 to provide information on how the grant program came about and its importance to Maine fire departments.

“It’s very simple. Steve came to me and asked me to present a bill,” Landry said. “We worked it up. My aide looked it over, did some tinkering on it. It went to the senate advisor’s office and they did their magic. Then it went to criminal justice and public safety committee.”

Landry said on the House floor the bill went under the hammer, was passed unanimously. “The Senate also put it under the hammer, and it passed unanimously there as well,” he noted. “The next challenge, like with any bill that gets passed, is is there money for it? The bill went to appropriations and came out of there with flying colors. They agreed to include it in the budget. I think the fiscal note wasn’t so much that it scared anyone, and they felt it would do some good. It was a really good bill, and that’s how things get done.”

“I was particularly surprised and certainly pleased that at the end of the session, given how many challenges the appropriations committee has – too many great requests but too few dollars – we were lucky to get that through,” Bunker stated. “But I think it’s part of Scott’s great work and his seniority in the legislature and his relationships on both sides of the aisle that help get something to go through like that.”

Bunker said it was fortunate that Landry was his local representative, they had worked on the Farmington Board of Selectmen together. “We had a good working relationship to start,” he noted.

Like anything else, it’s not what you know it’s who you know, Landry stated. The process dragged out for a while, Gov. Mills was pleased to sign it, he said. “That’s a good bill, and good bills should be taken care of,” he said.

“I guess this recognition of cancer and its effect on firefighters is something more recent as medical science and research have found the connection between it,” Bunker said. “It’s continuing to pick up momentum. I did my own research while I was undergoing chemotherapy and found the firefighter support network organization that I’ve become a strong part of. I found many best practices that firefighters could follow and a few of those did have a cost associated with them.”

Bunker said practices coming with costs could be a real challenge for small, rural fire departments. Small departments can’t afford the fairly expensive – what is referred to as an “extractor” – washing machines that can deal with the heavy duty turnout gear, he noted. “It was just not within their reach,” he stated. “One of the priorities under the best practices is to be sure to clean turnout gear following a fire so you don’t put dirty gear that’s been exposed [to carcinogens or other risk factors] back on again and get re-exposed.”

Getting funds from the legislature to help departments purchase an “extractor” washing machine was one thing Bunker thought could help departments. “The other one, which is far more expensive, was for exhaust systems for fire stations to exhaust diesel particulate matter, which is another very high grade cancer-causing issue,” he said. “So I’m hoping we’ll be able to help a few departments with that.”

As pleased as Bunker is to have the $250,000 award fund established, he looks at it as a starting point. “I would hope if I came back to the legislature in another session, I could show success on how the dollars were spent, but also show how many people it was able to help,” he said. “I hope that the legislature continues to promote these kinds of efforts.”

The awareness of firefighters’ exposure to carcinogens came about since 9/11, Bunker said. “We’ve lost more firefighters due to exposures than we did in the tragedy itself,” he noted. “That really did bring up an increased awareness to folks.”

Bunker continues to offer training for departments, would like this topic to be part of basic training curriculum for all new firefighters. “I think it’s important they’ve got awareness of this very early on.”

There are too many instances in the peer support work – that Bunker does with other firefighters who have had cancer – where members will push off the early warning signs and not go to their primary care physicians. “That’s part of the training that I do is to raise people’s awareness and make sure health screening is part of it,” he said. “And when there are those warning signs that people are not feeling well, to see their primary care physician.”

Nationwide there are very specific medical health screenings for firefighters, Bunker said. They should let their primary care physician know they’re not like the average citizen that comes into the office, and should get those more specialized screenings, he noted.

Farmington was one of seven or eight departments that hosted special screenings through the fire chiefs association’s health and wellness committee, Bunker said. “A specialist who works around New England uses advanced ultrasound to do early reviews and detections,” he stated. “And I was very pleased several members voluntarily went through that screening, although there’s a cost associated to screening that’s above and beyond the average department’s annual physical.”

Some groundwork was done in the last legislative session to try to get advanced coverage, specifically for this class of employees to be included in standard healthcare, Bunker noted. “We’ve got more work to do on that, but I’m hoping we’ll get more further with that, because again, catching it early is the difference.”

The first application for the grant program was received Oct. 30, Bunker said. “We’ve got a subgroup of the fire commission, there are six members of the commission who will be reviewing those,” he stated. “Then we’ll bring them in front of the whole group itself.”

Grant information has been shared with all related state and firefighter organizations, Bunker said. “The good news is there’s no match to it,” he stated. “The two very minimum requirements are they are a participant in fire incident reporting for the state fire marshals office and they will commit to entertaining me for cancer awareness training with their department.”

The grant application and information packet can be found on the state Fire Marshals Office by going to
www.maine.gov/dps/fmo/home. Applications close by 5 p.m. on Feb. 28, 2025. Questions may also
be sent to Stephan.bunker@gmail.com or by calling him at 207-592-1247.