Initiative News

From left: Draper Fire Chief Clint Smith, Utah Fire and Rescue Academy Director Bradley Wardle, Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Lehi Fire Chief Jeremy Craft, and Utah State Rep. Casey Snider participate in a ceremonial "hose-cutting" on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, to mark the opening of the Utah Firefighter Cancer Initiative's Utah Firefighter Health & Wellness Center. Smith, Wardle, and Craft are among the leadership of the Utah Firefighter Cancer Initiative, while Snider sponsored the bill that is funding the initiative's cancer screening program, which is the most comprehensive program of its kind in the nation.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah’s trailblazing push to shield firefighters from the No. 1 line-of-duty threat they face is officially underway. 

The Utah Firefighter Cancer Initiative (UFCI) on Wednesday held a “hose-cutting” ceremony celebrating the opening of the Utah Firefighter Health & Wellness Center, where the initiative recently launched the most comprehensive firefighter cancer screening program in the nation with the support of the Utah Legislature.

Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson was among many prominent attendees who gathered at the center to mark the milestone. Addressing the crowd, she said the Utah Firefighter Cancer Initiative represents a significant step forward in protecting people who devote their lives to protecting others.

“This is incredible,” she said “... Firefighters can come and get screened. They can get some peace of mind. And, unfortunately, far too often they might get some news that they don’t want to hear. But hopefully they can hear it early enough to be able to do something about it before it becomes a serious problem. That is the hope here with this facility, and I’m very grateful to everybody who’s helped put this together. I’m especially grateful for our firefighters who put themselves between us and harm’s way every single day.”

Cancer causes roughly two-thirds of deaths in the line of duty within the fire service, and firefighters are more likely to develop the disease than the general population. Some of the most prominent firefighting organizations in the state, as well as an international leader in protecting workers from job hazards, formed the initiative to address the problem. UFCI is a partnership among Utah Valley University’s Utah Fire and Rescue Academy, the Utah State Fire Chiefs Association, the Professional Firefighters of Utah, and the University of Utah-Weber State University Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.

UFCI will screen more than 500 firefighters a year at the Utah Firefighter Health & Wellness Center, prioritizing those who are at highest risk of cancer. The initiative conducted its first screenings in September, months after the Utah Legislature passed legislation, H.B. 65, providing the funding to launch the screening program.

The screening program aims to save lives by identifying cancer early — in some cases years before symptoms would have appeared — to give firefighters the best possible prognosis. While many cancers are treatable when discovered early, late-stage survival rates are grim for some cancers that firefighters may develop, such as renal and brain cancer. 

In addition to the cancer screenings, UFCI includes a research program exploring the link between firefighting and cancer to equip departments, policymakers, medical professionals, and firefighters with the information they need to reduce risks. The initiative is also dedicated to education, advocacy and supporting firefighters battling the disease.

Bradley Wardle, chair of the initiative and senior director of the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy, said the combination of those elements makes the initiative, and by extension Utah, a national leader in confronting the problem.

Photos: Charles Schuknecht/RMCOEH, Natalie Grover/Utah Valley University

“The reality is that firefighters make tremendous sacrifices to protect their communities,” he said. “It is imperative that we, in turn, do everything in our power to protect them from cancer. The Utah Firefighter Cancer Initiative is enormously grateful for the opportunity to do that, and we recognize that we only have that opportunity because of the support of many, many people who believe in this cause.”

Rep. Casey Snider (R-Paradise) sponsored H.B. 65, which also significantly expanded the list of cancers considered “presumptive” in firefighters. A volunteer firefighter himself, he said during the ceremony that it took a collective effort within the fire service to pass the legislation, adding that the effort was inspired by firefighters who have succumbed to cancer, those currently serving, and young people who will one day don firefighter turnouts in service of their communities.

“The service that you perform every day is more meaningful than what we do on Capitol Hill,” he said, addressing the firefighters in the audience. “You help people on the worst day of their life, and you make a difference. … This has been the honor of my lifetime to work on a bill that I know is going to help people and truly make a difference.”

The Utah Firefighter Cancer Initiative (UFCI) is pleased to announce that we have officially begun screening firefighters at our Utah Firefighter Health & Wellness Center in Salt Lake City. As of Monday, Oct. 13, 22 firefighters had completed the screening process, with nearly two dozen more in process.

However, as with any undertaking as significant as what we are aiming to accomplish, unanticipated problems invariably arise. And it takes time to identify and address them. We will continually evaluate and improve operations and communication and have set a goal of operating with maximum efficiency by Jan. 1 (though we are confident that we will reach that goal much sooner).

With that in mind, we would like to provide clarity regarding a few of our key processes and our efforts to optimize them:

• Selection Process
  As our screening capacity is limited to ~500 firefighters annually, UFCI has implemented a process to prioritize firefighters based on estimated cancer risk (as determined by a combination of age, years of service, and service type [wildland, volunteer, full-time, part-time]).
  
  We have used those criteria to identify and rank the first group of 1,000 firefighters to be offered screening slots and have begun scheduling firefighters. It has come to our attention, however, that we have invited some firefighters out of sequence. This occurred partially due to an inadvertent double counting of some firefighters’ service time, as well as due to firefighters’ proximity to testing sites. Going forward, we will be diligent about ensuring invites accurately reflect the criteria (see more below) that we have set forth regarding estimated cancer risk. 

• Risk Profile
  Some departments have only provided us with the current tenure of their employees rather than their firefighters’ comprehensive service time. The spreadsheet that departments provide us should reflect each firefighter's total tenure in the fire service. For assistance with this matter, contact Jolene Chamberlain (UFRA), Farmington Chief Shelby Willis (UFCI Screening Test Protocol Committee Chair), or UFRA Director Brad Wardle (UFCI Chair). We will provide support to ensure the data are accurate. After corrections are made, we will update our database and recalculate our risk analysis. Also, data updates will be required annually so UFCI can maintain an accurate list of personnel, reflecting changes such as retirements or new hires within each department or agency.

• Providing Results
  Our initial aim was for firefighters to complete testing in the morning and discuss results with UFCI Medical Director Dr. Kurt Hegmann or one of our two other board-certified occupational medicine doctors in the afternoon, all within one day. This is currently not feasible due to our need to utilize external providers for the MRI and CT scan portions of the screening. UFCI staff will soon establish a schedule and notify participants of their testing and results discussion dates. Firefighters who are either in the Wasatch Front area or wish to make more than one trip will be given the option to obtain the MRI and CT scan ahead of their visit to our Health & Wellness Center so that results can be discussed at that visit. Those who receive those tests on the same day as their visit to our Health & Wellness Clinic, and thus are unable to receive their results that day, will have the option to either receive the results via videoconference or return to the clinic for a follow-up appointment. 

• Communication with Firefighters
  Chiefs will receive our list of the first 1,000 firefighters we have identified for screening. When a firefighter’s position is reached, UFCI will make numerous attempts to contact the firefighter, through each of the following methods: personal and fire department email addresses, personal phone number, and the individual’s fire chief’s email. 

• Cancellation and No-Show Policy
  Due to time constraints, resource limitations, and the cost of screenings, cancellations or no-shows will result in the firefighter being removed from the UFCI screening selection list for one year. 

UFCI is tremendously grateful for your trust, patience, and support as we have built this screening program in the months since the Utah Legislature voted to provide the funding for the program in March. We are proud of the enormous strides we have made in a short time to launch the program and begin screening firefighters.

In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to refine our processes and work with departments to ensure we provide an elite level of service and best fulfill a mission in which we are honored to be involved: saving the lives of as many firefighters as possible.

Sincerely,

Bradley Wardle
Chair, UFCI
Director, Utah Fire and Rescue Academy

Jeremy Craft
Fire Chief, Lehi Fire Department
Vice President, Western Fire Chiefs

Clint Smith
Fire Chief, Draper City Fire Department
President, Utah Fire Chiefs Association

Kurt Hegmann, MD
Director, Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health