LOGAN – Local Rep. Casey Snider (R-Paradise) stood with state firefighters, legislative leaders and Gov. Spencer Cox on March 5 to celebrate the passage of House Bill 65, groundbreaking legislation that will enhance health and safety for firefighters.
“It’s a scientific fact that the profession of firefighting causes cancer,” explained Snider, who serves as a volunteer with the Paradise Fire Department. “They – firefighters – show up for us; now we’re showing up for them.”
Sponsored by Snider, House Bill 65 acknowledges the fact that cancer is a leading cause of death among firefighters, with 60 percent of line-of-duty deaths linked to occupational forms of that disease.
The proposed legislation that has passed both the Utah House and Senate expands access to cancer screenings, early detection and necessary medical benefits.
“The danger of firefighting doesn’t end when the shift is over,” said Snider, surrounded by fellow Utah firefighters at the State Capitol. “Too often, that danger lingers in the form of deadly disease, taking the live of those who have already sacrificed so much for their communities.”
Building on the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 159 in 2023 — which funded a study of occupational cancers in firefighters — Snider’s bill increases the recognized cancers from four to 15.
Utah will now formally recognize diseases including bladder, brain, lung and thyroid cancers, as well as various forms of leukemia, as presumptive occupational illnesses, making it easier for firefighters to access healthcare benefits and compensation for their treatment.
The bill will also allow firefighters to receive screenings for presumptive cancers through the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health – a vital step in providing them with early detection, timely treatment and medical support.
Currently, Utah has nearly 6,000 professional and volunteer firefighters across its fire departments statewide.
Those include the Unified Fire Authority (UFA) – an agency with 695 employees serving an estimated 473,921 residents in 15 municipalities and unincorporated areas in Salt Lake County — the Salt Lake City Fire Department and the Bureau of Land Management Utah Fire and Aviation Program.
“Utah’s firefighters put everything on the line to protect us, often at great personal risk,” Cox added.
“With House Bill 65, we’re making it clear that their health and safety matter just as much as the lives they work tirelessly to save.”
Along with other proposals from the current general session of the Utah Legislature, Snider’s legislation will shortly arrive on the governor’s desk for his signature.