WASHINGTON-The International Association of Firefighters has called for a moratorium on new cell towers on fire stations until health effects can be studied, according to a Vermont-based advocacy group.
The EMR Policy Institute said the IAFF, the nation’s top firefighters union and an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, approved a resolution at its annual convention in Boston last week to study whether cell towers located on or near fire stations in the United States and Canada are making firefighters sick. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry addressed the IAFF convention.
Firefighters plan to seek nearly $1 million for the study, said Janet Newton, president of the EMR Policy Institute. The group is working with other firefighter proponents on the cell-tower issue. Cities and towns are paid money by mobile phone carriers to erect towers close to fire stations, which tend to be in densely populated areas.
Lt. Ron Cronin of the Brookline, Mass., Fire Department and Acting Lt. Joe Foster of the Vancouver Fire Department, also vice president of Vancouver, B.C., Local No. 18, spearheaded the passage of the resolution, said the EMR Policy Institute.
“Some firefighters with cell towers currently located on their stations are experiencing symptoms that put our first responders at risk,” said Cronin. “It is important to be sure we understand what effects these towers may have on the firefighters living in these stations. If the jakes in the fire house are suffering from headaches, can’t respond quickly and their ability to make decisions is clouded by a sort of brain fog, then entire communities they are protecting will clearly be at risk.”
