r/Firefighting • u/Launch_Rockface • Jul 10 '25

General Discussion Unpopular Opinions In the Fire Service

I am curious what other peoples unpopular opinions of the fire service are? I know there are alot of things we are doing or trying to do to improve the fire service as far as training and wellness, but I also know alot of it is just not that great in my opinion.

79 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

340 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

21

u/Direct-Training9217 Jul 11 '25

I agree with everything you say (your job is to train the rookie, his job is to work hard), except....

My unpopular opinion is that PFAS in gear is overblown. There aren't a ton of studies on it and the big ones study PFAS in drinking water. Those aren't super conclusive and obviously drinking water is way more direct and way more frequent exposure. Honestly sleep deprivation and being out of shape probably cause more cancer than the PFAS. Obviously don't wear your gear 24/7 but putting on bunker pants for an EMS call or working out in gear is not as big a deal (imo) as people make it. I workout in gear once a tour, because I think that being comfortable and cardiovascularly prepared is worth the trade off

-7

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 11 '25

“Being out of shape and Sleep deprivation causes more cancer” No it doesn’t. For a few reasons.

The first one is because sleep deprivation doesn’t cause cancer. Secondly, because yeah. It’s the gear. There definitely are studies on it, but let’s say all of the data was just things we can observe.

If it’s not the gear why do firemen get cancer at such an elevated rate? Why is a majority of the cancer we get inside where our bunker pants are (bladder, prostate, colon, uterine)? And we wear those more often than the rest of our gear? Seems like maybe it’s the gear.

And if it’s the sleep deprivation and being out of shape, why isn’t cancer effecting fat guys who work a ton of overtime more often? It doesn’t. So it seems like that’s not the problem. Matter of fact; I was eating so clean it was almost an ED and running ultra marathons when I got diagnosed with cancer. So I don’t think it was that I was fat and sleepy.

I also had to have pretty extensive genetic testing done when I had cancer because I was abandoned at birth so I have no family history. In which they found that my cancer was occupational. From the PFAS in the gear.

If you want to work out in gear, go ahead. Save that money and that time though because your city isn’t going to go out of their way for you. Good luck big dog

22

u/Fly_throwaway37 Jul 11 '25

The fuck did I just read? Sleep deprivation absolutely is linked to cancer.

-11

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 11 '25

You just read me say that sleep deprivation and being out of shape doesn’t cause more cancer in firemen than PFAs. Could you read it this time?

3

u/MudHammock Jul 11 '25

You literally said word for word "sleep deprivation doesn't cause cancer"

Yes, it can contribute to it. You're overly opinionated and under educated. And condescending, which makes it worse since you're absolutely in the wrong.

From John Hopkins

"Disruptions in the body’s “biological clock,” which controls sleep and thousands of other functions, may raise the odds of cancers of the breast, colon, ovaries and prostate. Exposure to light while working overnight shifts for several years may reduce levels of melatonin, encouraging cancer to grow."

Sounds pretty relevant to EMS. And look, two of the cancers mentioned are also the two you mentioned the fire service disproportionately suffers from.

-2

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 11 '25

“May raise odds of cancer” Isn’t the same thing as being a carcinogen.

2

u/MudHammock Jul 11 '25

Who said it was? Being obese isn't a carcinogen, but we can all agree that it contributes to cancer development. What is your argument here?

0

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 11 '25

The comment I was responding to said that sleep deprivation causes more cancer in firemen than PFAs. My argument is that it doesn’t.

3

u/MudHammock Jul 11 '25

He said that sleep deprivation AND being out of shape PROBABLY causes more cancer than PFAs (which is completely possible).

You said "sleep deprivation doesn't cause cancer" and I responded to that. Then you made some strange remark about how bad sleep isn't carcinogenic.

0

u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jul 11 '25

Saying that those things cause cancer more than carcinogens isn’t based on anything at all.

I said sleep deprivation isn’t a carcinogen. I’m not sure what you think is strange about that.