Three Phoenix firefighters turned tragedy into innovation after colleagues died from cancer.
PHOENIX—The fire outside was not the deadliest threat. Two Phoenix firefighters lost to cancer, and Phoenix Deputy Fire Chief Jason Miller could not stop it.
The threat was invisible—poisons slipping through their gear, burrowing into skin and lungs, ticking like hidden explosives until they detonated.
Miller still chokes up at the memory. But from that loss came resolve—an idea that would protect hundreds of fire departments across Arizona and beyond.
Determined to save two more friends and countless other firefighters, he built a better solution: the Storm Stick.
“The cancer issue in the fire service is complex,” Miller told The Epoch Times. “There are a lot of things we have to get better at.”
Miller, 51, was already on the front lines of the fight against occupational cancer, first as a member and later as chairman of a regional cancer prevention and wellness team.
He has run the numbers, studied the research, and it all points to one harsh truth: Today’s fires are deadlier than ever.
According to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, cancer is the most serious threat to firefighter health and safety.
From 2002 to 2019, it caused 66 percent of career firefighter line-of-duty deaths, based on data from the International Association of Fire Fighters.
In 2016 alone, that number rose to 70 percent.
By comparison, heart disease accounted for 18 percent of occupational deaths.
Nationwide, firefighters are 9 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and 14 percent more likely to die from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Miller said every blaze carries chemicals that can kill long after the flames are out.
Cancer lurks in everyday air, dust, and products, he said.
PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) from smoke, pesticides, and PFAS (Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances) build up silently. Imported wood brings formaldehyde, while phthalates hide in toys, clothes, and floors.
Firefighters face danger head-on, and sleepless nights only make it worse—but fast, thorough decontamination can save lives, Miller said.
“This is a really big deal for the fire service—exposure to a lot of things, sleep deprivation, and the food we eat,” he said.
“We get bombarded with toxins at fire incidents. I was looking at what the first and most intense point of exposure is and what we are doing about it.”
One method was brutally simple: a bucket of soapy water, a scrubdown, and a blast of the hose.
Soap. Scrub. Hose. Repeat. Down the line, again and again.
“It takes about three minutes or so to do it that way,” Miller said. “Then you’ve got to dump the bucket out because it’s dirty, and fill it back up again.
“It worked great in the research environment. It just didn’t work in the field. What was happening was people were just kind of hosing people off with water, which is found to be about 20 percent effective.”
The Storm Stick system removes 85 percent of toxins before they can penetrate gear or skin, he said.
It is a portable system that washes toxic chemicals, soot, and carcinogens off firefighters’ gear immediately after a fire.
The Storm Stick mounts to the side of the engine and taps into the onboard water supply for fast, on-the-spot decontamination.
Firefighters simply step in front of the device, letting water streams strip away toxins and residue.
Think of it as a low-pressure, deep-cleaning power wash.
“I listed all the problems currently that we just are not [addressing] right or well and patched it up against the science … to come up with something that actually does what it’s supposed to do,” Miller said.
“I had this slight brainchild. How can we do better?”
That’s where the Storm Stick began, Miller said—developed from concept to product with veteran colleagues Greg Gaiser and Evan Fuwa.
Armed with critical data, Miller and his team partnered with engineers, machinists, and industry experts to design and build the Storm Stick system—then put it to the test in some of Arizona’s busiest fire companies.
Work on the system began in 2017 and finished in about 2019.
Miller said the Storm Stick system has been adopted by dozens of fire departments across the United States and Canada.
By Allan Stein
