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Original poster

20 cases of cancer in firefighters linked to Grenfell tower rescue

76 replies

jaicobain · 14/01/2023 22:15

Almost 6 years on and people are still suffering the consequences of this disgusting negligence, those poor, poor firefighters and their families. How many more cases in London will occur do to the toxic materials released into the air?

And yet still no justice, it makes me so angry.

OP posts:
saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:21

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Was your husband at Grenfell? Because according to the Op he doesn’t matter if he wasn’t there.

Cuppasoupmonster · 14/01/2023 23:23

But Grenfell wasn’t just an average house fire was it? The firefighters had much longer exposure to the smoke than they should’ve done. They were also eating and drinking close to the building on breaks which they shouldn’t have done (but presumably were not warned to do) which has been linked with gastric/stomach cancers - toxic soot on the food. Seems like the guidelines around such big jobs needs changing.

Original poster
jaicobain · 14/01/2023 23:23

saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:21

Was your husband at Grenfell? Because according to the Op he doesn’t matter if he wasn’t there.

Show quote history

But as a firefighter, he COULD have been had he been in that area and on call AT THE TIME and COULD have been a victim of the government negligence regarding the Glenfell CLADDING.

OP posts:
saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:25

jaicobain · 14/01/2023 23:21

Haha, do one. Had your husband been in the ‘right’ area at the ‘right’ time he COULD have been at Grenfell, the worst residential fire since the war. That’s the whole bloody point.

Show quote history

Psst… all fires are dangerous. He doesn’t need a ‘Grenfall” to lose his life or have a higher chance of cancer.

Original poster
jaicobain · 14/01/2023 23:25

That poster probably thinks I hate every nurse that had the audacity to work on a non-Covid ward during the pandemic.

OP posts:
GoAgainstNicki · 14/01/2023 23:25

saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:18

Seriously… keep going with your thread. Don’t mind me over here. I’ll be sure to tell my DH about your concern for his well-being… oh wait he wasn’t at Grenfell, I guess he can fuck right off.

You really need to get several grips

saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:26

jaicobain · 14/01/2023 23:25

That poster probably thinks I hate every nurse that had the audacity to work on a non-Covid ward during the pandemic.

That poster could care less what you think of nurses and can’t fathom what Covid has to do with this discussion

pandapants8 · 14/01/2023 23:27

I think you need to separate this into two distinct points.

  1. 20 firefighters (who were in attendance at Grenfell) have been diagnosed with cancer. That is incredibly sad and frustrating. Firefighting as a profession is dangerous, but so are many jobs, in their own ways. But firefighting has now been classified as a Carcinogenic Occupation. It is so dangerous, it has been proven to put firefighters at a higher risk of cancers, just by doing the job. Any FF diagnosed with cancer is sad, whether they attended Grenfell, Shirley Towers, Bradford City Stadium or any number of car fires, house fires, bin fires, rubbish fires, grass fires, RTCs, floods, hazmats and assisting other agencies that never get reported.
  1. 6 years on Grenfell is still not put to rest, in any sense. People all over the country still live in potentially unsafe buildings, government is dragging its heals and fingers just keep pointing and no one is actually doing. Thousands of people live in fear of a repeat, when by now we should be looking back at all the changes and improvements and people made safer, so we can focus on keeping people safe and remembering those lost.
saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:27

Ah shit… couldn’t care less

jaicobain · 14/01/2023 23:31

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:32

pandapants8 · 14/01/2023 23:27

I think you need to separate this into two distinct points.

  1. 20 firefighters (who were in attendance at Grenfell) have been diagnosed with cancer. That is incredibly sad and frustrating. Firefighting as a profession is dangerous, but so are many jobs, in their own ways. But firefighting has now been classified as a Carcinogenic Occupation. It is so dangerous, it has been proven to put firefighters at a higher risk of cancers, just by doing the job. Any FF diagnosed with cancer is sad, whether they attended Grenfell, Shirley Towers, Bradford City Stadium or any number of car fires, house fires, bin fires, rubbish fires, grass fires, RTCs, floods, hazmats and assisting other agencies that never get reported.
  1. 6 years on Grenfell is still not put to rest, in any sense. People all over the country still live in potentially unsafe buildings, government is dragging its heals and fingers just keep pointing and no one is actually doing. Thousands of people live in fear of a repeat, when by now we should be looking back at all the changes and improvements and people made safer, so we can focus on keeping people safe and remembering those lost.

Now we’re getting somewhere…

Please do shout #1 from the rooftops. Seriously… sadly unlikely to change. The only other option is to not have firefighters. But it does help to keep the awareness and pressure for better equipment.

#2… clearly a tragedy. And should be used to affect change for anyone in similar buildings. And should be used to make buildings more safe.

Using #1 as a prop for #2 is exploitive and wrong.

Glad to see we agree.

Letsrunabath · 14/01/2023 23:45

Op.

please look up studies done on Firefighters long term occupational risks to health, the risks are substantial, it doesn’t have to be a major incident. And let’s not forget mental health.

Summerfun54321 · 14/01/2023 23:45

We build with lots of toxic plastics which needs to change. Plastic insulation, plastic floor coverings, plastic sofas, plastic carpets. When all of this burns, humans and anything else living just doesn't stand a chance. These toxic materials affect the indoor air we breath, when they're set alight the toxicity is horrendous. This issue isn't limited to certain socio economic groups.

BuHao · 14/01/2023 23:49

Where is the evidence that it was racist?

Honestly, some people here are such conspiracy theorists.

It was a fire that got out of hand, firefighters did their best but lots of people sadly died. Everyone I know was devastated. Some of the cladding was cheap and non fire resistant and led to more people dying. It was a terrible accident with some businesses acting selfishly. How on earth you could link this to racism, or the government (as some do) is beyond me.

In March, I was in a covid lockdown in a city in China. Our doors were chained shut, our fire escape was welded shut and we were trapped in our apartment - partly with no food, for several months. THAT was poor government decisions THAT was horrific. I honestly don’t get this ridiculous accusation of racism that people must know is false. Who in the government do you think wanted this to happen? Just because you can criticise the government, doesn’t mean that it has poor intentions. I’ve met lots of politicians, from all sides, and they are all decent people who work hard for their constituents. It seems too easy and too bandwagony to just suggest that MPs are shit/selfish/evil etc when it seems to me that these are people just doing their best with limited information.

BeGentlePeeps · 14/01/2023 23:50

I hear the OP, voicing well grounded concern, and I read the passionate responses as well placed frustration about the risks EVERY fire fighter (and nurse and porter and hospital cleaner and doctor) takes to do their job- caring for the public- every single day.

The issue isn’t whether you were or were not a hero on a given day at a certain event. Just because you your yours wasn’t there, at that precise location, on that given date; it does not mean they are any less potentially heroic.

The Grenfell catastrophe confirms the societal caustic approach to social housing and public service. I’ve watched all the enquiry hearings as a close family member is intricately involved (as an impartial technical investigator).

I don’t understand how anyone could be angry or aggressive about the OPs primary message.

It’s not a race to the bottom. OP has clearly been involved in caring for people- fire fighters- horribly affected by the tragedy and has every right to feel strongly for them.

BuHao · 14/01/2023 23:53

My post was aimed at the nonsense spouted by @Druim

IWineAndDontDine · 15/01/2023 00:04

@saltinesandcoffeecups you are picking a fight for the sake of it. Nothing OP said warranted that pointless and pathetic string of posts. Getting upset because she didn't personally pick your husband the firefighter to write a post about so she must not give a fuck about him! Hilarious

saltinesandcoffeecups · 15/01/2023 00:09

I don’t understand how anyone could be angry or aggressive about the OPs primary message.

To answer this in the spirit it was intended. People like me get aggressive when they or their loved ones get trotted out to make an unrelated point.

Their loved ones are the ones who watch them every day go out knowing they are doing irreparable harm to themselves and are the last to complain.

God willing they never get the call their loved one has been injured or killed, To date I’ve gotten 4 of those calls.

I also see how my husband is in pain due to bad joints (so far 1 surgery), struggles to hear, and has been sleep deprived for most of our marriage. I’ve watched him go to work (bonus for US FF’s who are also Paramedics and EMTs) to be quarantined to to a station as they run COVID calls.

I’ve talked to and comforted a FF wife whose husband was at home dealing with the fact that they couldn’t save a small girl from a fire. I’ve sat and watched a good friend work through the call that had him too late to save two little girls murdered by their mother.

My own husband keeps a lot to himself because he doesn’t want me to worry. So I know I only know a small portion of what he goes through on a day to day basis.

So yeah… I’m going to call out anyone that uses my husband and those like him when it’s convenient to their pet grievance of the day.

saltinesandcoffeecups · 15/01/2023 00:11

IWineAndDontDine · 15/01/2023 00:04

@saltinesandcoffeecups you are picking a fight for the sake of it. Nothing OP said warranted that pointless and pathetic string of posts. Getting upset because she didn't personally pick your husband the firefighter to write a post about so she must not give a fuck about him! Hilarious

Yeah totally fucking hilarious.

user1473878824 · 15/01/2023 00:24

saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:27

Ah shit… couldn’t care less

You’re starting a fight over something you’ve decided is the OPs point when she’s stated it wasn’t.

BeGentlePeeps · 15/01/2023 00:26

saltinesandcoffeecups · 15/01/2023 00:11

Yeah totally fucking hilarious.

Show quote history

No one can deny you or your husbands service. And I can only imagine how awful and stressful getting those calls is.

But I still don’t see how the original posters point- about fire fighters getting shat upon and feeling strongly on their behalf- makes her wrong.

Does this feel a bit like the Thursday clap for the NHS when people then go and punch the A&E triage nurse in the face? Because I get that feeling of frustration!

OP, to me, feels like he/ she is ‘on the team’ for public workers, and frustrated at the risks FF are made to take…. and so I don’t quite get why so angry at their post…

Sparklesocks · 15/01/2023 00:30

saltinesandcoffeecups · 14/01/2023 23:21

Was your husband at Grenfell? Because according to the Op he doesn’t matter if he wasn’t there.

Show quote history

If you’re unable to engage like an adult perhaps you shouldn’t.

saltinesandcoffeecups · 15/01/2023 00:30

BeGentlePeeps · 15/01/2023 00:26

No one can deny you or your husbands service. And I can only imagine how awful and stressful getting those calls is.

But I still don’t see how the original posters point- about fire fighters getting shat upon and feeling strongly on their behalf- makes her wrong.

Does this feel a bit like the Thursday clap for the NHS when people then go and punch the A&E triage nurse in the face? Because I get that feeling of frustration!

OP, to me, feels like he/ she is ‘on the team’ for public workers, and frustrated at the risks FF are made to take…. and so I don’t quite get why so angry at their post…

Show quote history

Then I can’t help you.

It’s very clear where I’m coming from. Either the OP wants to raise awareness and be angry for firefighters or she’s using the current news story about firefighters as a backdrop to express outrage over Grenfell. She was very clear that she was doing the latter. And that’s what I’m calling her out on.

pandapants8 · 15/01/2023 00:34

saltinesandcoffeecups · 15/01/2023 00:09

I don’t understand how anyone could be angry or aggressive about the OPs primary message.

To answer this in the spirit it was intended. People like me get aggressive when they or their loved ones get trotted out to make an unrelated point.

Their loved ones are the ones who watch them every day go out knowing they are doing irreparable harm to themselves and are the last to complain.

God willing they never get the call their loved one has been injured or killed, To date I’ve gotten 4 of those calls.

I also see how my husband is in pain due to bad joints (so far 1 surgery), struggles to hear, and has been sleep deprived for most of our marriage. I’ve watched him go to work (bonus for US FF’s who are also Paramedics and EMTs) to be quarantined to to a station as they run COVID calls.

I’ve talked to and comforted a FF wife whose husband was at home dealing with the fact that they couldn’t save a small girl from a fire. I’ve sat and watched a good friend work through the call that had him too late to save two little girls murdered by their mother.

My own husband keeps a lot to himself because he doesn’t want me to worry. So I know I only know a small portion of what he goes through on a day to day basis.

So yeah… I’m going to call out anyone that uses my husband and those like him when it’s convenient to their pet grievance of the day.

You see, I don't mind being 'trotted out' if it helps someone's grievance, when it is also my grievance too. Otherwise no-one mentions FFs at all.
Remember July 19th? Ecomentalists we're going crackers at global warming causing a 40 degree heatwave, but Firefighters across the country were heros of the hour on every news article about the wildfires decimating the country, taking homes and no doubt causing untold numbers of potential cancers in every firefighter on duty that day. By August FFs were all but forgotten.
So in 5 years time, when the numbers start coming in of how many brothers and sisters are still feeling the effects of doing their job that day, and every day on duty, I hope people realise what they did back then really was that bad, even if it is just so an ecomentalist can prove a point on global warming. Otherwise it is only their loved ones that will know the true cost of that day, and every other day on duty.

saltinesandcoffeecups · 15/01/2023 00:41

As long as you don’t see a problem being whored out to everyone’s pet cause. I guess it’s ok then.

Personally, I and those aforementioned loved, ones think it’s a slap in the face. As in, their well-being only matters in the context of the grievance of the day.