RICHMOND, Va. — Part of the battle for Virginia firefighters is won with the passage of a new bill in the General Assembly.
The bill expands the workers' compensation presumption of compensability for certain cancers to include thyroid and bladder cancers.
To qualify, the illness would have to cause death or disability for firefighters who have completed five years of service.
It does not apply to a firefighter diagnosed before July 1 of this year.
Presently, the list includes leukemia, pancreatic, prostate, rectal, throat, ovarian, breast, colon, brain, or testicular cancer.
Five Virginia Beach firefighters have been diagnosed with some form of cancer recently, all of whom spent hours at the scene of a jet crash in Virginia Beach 11 years ago. It was dubbed "Good Friday Miracle" because no one died when the F-18 jet crashed into an apartment complex
Several contaminants have been identified as being present in the piles of charred debris on that April day.
While no one knows for sure if that toxic brew caused the firefighters' cancer, in a future diagnosis of bladder or thyroid cancer, a connection will be presumed along with a qualification for certain benefits.