INTERVIEW: New Green Bay Metro fire chief fights cancer in his department

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Firefighting is a dangerous profession, but sometimes the danger isn’t as visible as smoke and flames. The Green Bay Metro Fire Department is screening firefighters for cancer.

Participation is voluntary, but a five-year study released a decade ago found firefighters had a 9% higher rate of cancer and 14% higher rate of cancer-related deaths compared to the general population.

Green Bay Metro Fire Chief Matthew Knott has been in the profession for nearly 3 decades. We talk about the cancer risk and when he first noticed the disease appearing on fire departments’ radar. We also talked about the program and how firefighters are being encouraged to enroll, and how he dealt with the disease at his old department in Rockford, Ill.

Knott also talks about other safety issues for Green Bay-area firefighters and what tools and equipment are in place to handle them.

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