Just before the ending of the 2025 General Assembly session, West Haven Center District Fire Chief James O’Brien, Center District Fire Commissioner and Allingtown Volunteer Fire Association Chief John Carew, retired Center District Lieutenant and State Representative William Heffernan, Allingtown Volunteer Firefighter Steven R. Mullins and other firefighters, career and volunteer throughout the State of Connecticut joined Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and State Comptroller Sean Scanlon at the State Capitol Building in Hartford; as Scanlon hosted a press conference to address issues in the State’s firefighting community.
The issues included the shortage of career and volunteer firefighters in Connecticut. According to a report by the Comptroller office, released prior to the press conference, the state has lost half of its firefighting force over the last eight years. Many of the absent personnel are volunteer firefighters, which cover the majority of Connecticut.
“I believe that providing high quality benefits and pensions and providing additional incentives to volunteers and tracking departments to enhance communication is a first step in fixing the problem,” Scanlon said.
In addition to firefighter recruitment and retention, another major topic at the press conference was health. Due to the conditions of modern-day fires, firefighters are now burdened with rates of cancer that exceed that of the general population.
Since the news conference, Gov. Ned Lamont has signed new legislation making several updates to the Connecticut Firefighters Cancer Relief Program, including adding skin cancer to the types of cancers covered under the program and modifying the language governing its eligibility to make it clear that all firefighters statewide have access to the program, regardless of whether they work for a state or municipal fire department.
The legislation is Senate Bill# 1426, “An Act Making Changes to the Firefighters Cancer Relief Program.”
“This program was created with the understanding that firefighters have high-risk jobs and are exposed to toxins that can wreak havoc on their health and put them at risk for cancer,” said Lamont.
The program, which was recently created, provides workers’ compensation-like benefits to firefighters who have certain cancers and meet other criteria.
“I appreciate legislators on both sides of the aisle for crafting this legislation, voting in favor of it, and sending it to my desk. I’m glad to sign it into law,” Lamont said.