The Federal Firefighter Fairness Act ensures federal firefighters receive the same access to disability and retirement benefits as their peers who are state, county, and municipal firefighters and who often fight the same exact fires.

Like most firefighters in the United States, it would create the same presumption that federal firefighters who become disabled by serious diseases, like certain cancers, lung disease, heart disease and infectious diseases, contracted the illness on the job.

Under the current federal law, federal firefighters are required to precisely identify an incident or exposure that caused a disease for it to be considered job-related. The burden of proving that one specific incident or an exposure to a disease is extremely difficult for firefighters to meet, because they work in so many environments and conditions.

Fighting fires is hard and dangerous work. In one study conducted by Harvard University, scientists measured air contaminant levels at more than 200 structural fires. Benzene, a chemical linked to many cancers, was found in 181 out of 197 samples from fire scenes.

Multiple studies have shown that there are over 100 chemicals that can be found in smoke, showing just how difficult it can be for federal firefighters to prove an illness they contracted was caused by one specific chemical or incident.