Amid the wildfires in Southern California, Northland lawmakers introduced a bill to extend Public Safety Officer benefits to fire fighters with occupational cancer on Friday January 24th.

Currently, fire fighters can only get Public Safety Officer benefits from physical injuries in the line of duty or if they pass away from a heart attack, stroke or mental health conditions that came from their time in the line of service.

The “Honoring our Fallen Heros Act” would extent those benefits to firefighters who have died or have been disabled as a result of occupational cancer.

Occupational cancer is a growing concern for firefighters and their families.

“Occupational cancer is the leading cause of death among firefighters,” said U.S Senator Amy Klobuchar. “That’s why senator Kramer and I joined together across party lines to reintroduce our legislation to make sure that our fire fighters who die or become disabled as a result of service-related cancers get the support that they’ve earned.”

The bill comes after the family of St. Paul Fire Captain Michael Paidar, who died from occupational cancer in 2020, became the first to be rewarded line of duty death benefits in the state of Minnesota.