EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The East Palestine train disaster has now drawn cancer researchers to Ohio with a decades-long study that is enrolling firefighters.
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"There were questions about what we could and couldn't tell early on,” Sara Jahnke, director of the Center for Fire Rescue and EMS Health Research at NDRI USA, said.
While the study is enrolling firefighters, it's not just ones who went to the fire and chemical release in East Palestine.
Jules D’Amico is three years into her dream job.
She’s a part-time volunteer firefighter in Milton Township, some 30 miles from where a toxic disaster happened four months ago.
“You watch after your brothers and sisters, even the ones you never meet,” D’Amico said.
Four of her colleagues went to the train derailment in early February.
She says some fought the fire, heightening concern about chemical exposure.
“We had two that started showing symptoms pretty quickly, and it’s scary to watch,” D’Amico said.
D’Amico didn’t go to East Palestine but is now one of more than 60 firefighters enrolled in the National Firefighter Cancer Cohort study.
"I would say responding to this call and any huge disaster is really stressful for responders even if everything is done exactly the way it's supposed to be, we know firefighters are at risk,” Jahnke said.
In April, researchers started getting blood and urine samples from firefighters.
They’ve been shipped off to the University of Arizona for analysis.
D’Amico says she also filled out an extensive questionnaire to determine risk factors, not just fighting fires.
“They asked about sun exposure. Did you wear sunscreen, or how often do you wear a hat? They asked about your stress levels, your sleep pattern,” D’Amico said.
Jahnke is a co-lead investigator.
“What we hope to pull from this data over the next three decades will be significant.
And should be a game-changer in understanding what's causing the rates of cancer we're seeing in firefighters,” Jahnke said.
East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick says none of his volunteers have signs or symptoms of responding, although some signed up for the study.
"They were worried about their family’s exposure, their exposure, the town in general's exposure, and that's still a concern,” Drabick said.
News 5 investigators uncovered Drabick’s frustrations about exposure through a public records request. Just weeks after the derailment, the chief sent a text message after comments by a health official.
Drabick says he’d been asking since the day after the toxic derailment for exposure testing, separate from the study.
“It's not any other exposure. I was very frustrated with that answer which drove me to reach out above him to the state. And subsequently, we got first responder testing. Very late in the game, should have happened soon than it did,” Drabick said.
Drabick says they tossed every piece of turnout gear from those who responded to the derailment and billed Norfolk Southern for the replacements.
Researchers aren’t currently testing for contaminates from the disaster but will follow firefighters over time for any biological changes from overall firefighting and anything unique from the derailment.
“I think there’s a lot of progress a lot of progress over the last five and ten years shaping how we prevent carcinogen exposure,” Jahnke said.
D’Amico says the study brings anticipation, anxiety, and relief.
"It's nice to be the guinea pig in order to help the people of tomorrow, the firefighters of tomorrow,” D’Amico said.
The goal of the study is to recruit 100 firefighters who went to the derailment and another 100 who didn’t for comparison.
Researchers will return to Ohio next week to get more firefighters to sign up. They want to also include firefighters from Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
