Hurum with first pink fire truck in Norway

Hurum.Pink fire truck.Photo : Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

To visualize the increased cancer risk associated with working in the fire department, Hurum has painted its new fire truck pink.

– There are no other operational pink fire trucks in Norway today, while in the US this is more and more commonplace, says Communications Manager in the Hurum municipality, Elena Solberg.

The Municipality has entered into cooperation with the Cancer Society and ‘Fire fighters against Cancer’.

– More than eight out of ten who die because of their job die of cancer. One of the professions that are at high risk of cancer is the fire fighters.

Fire fighting is becoming increasingly toxic, partly because of the use of chemicals in building materials.

Fire fighters enter when others leave, and are exposed to a cocktail of these carcinogens, Consultant for the Cancer Society; Anne Lise Ryel said when the new fire truck was presented in Hurum on Thursday.

Ryel said there is much that can be done to help minimize exposure to this danger.

Washing equipment at all fire stations, several sets of garments and shower facilities at all stations is what is required.

In Norway there are 670 fire stations, and many of them are small.

– Most of the fire fighters in the country work only part-time. And that is the combination that is a challenge. Part-time employees who have to take their laundry home after a fire or who has not got a second set of clothes to wear the next day, Anne Lise Ryel said. 

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today