Roundtable Talk - Firefighter Cancer Awareness and Risk Reduction

Chief John M. Buckman III served 35 years as fire chief for the German Township (Indiana) Volunteer Fire Department, and 15 years as director of the fire and public safety academy for the Indiana State Fire Marshal Office. He is the Director of Government and Regional Outreach for IamResponding.com. Chief Buckman is a past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and a co-founder of the IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section. In 1996, Fire Chief Magazine named Buckman Volunteer Fire Chief of the Year. The Chief is an accomplished photographer, a co-author of the Lesson Learned from Fire-Rescue Leaders, and the editor of the Chief Officers Desk Reference. Chief Buckman is the owner of Wildfire Productions and is a member of the Fire Chief/FireRescue1 Editorial Advisory Board.

Dr. Kenny Fent is a Research Industrial Hygienist and Team Lead for the Firefighter Health Program and National Firefighter Registry (NFR) for Cancer at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The NFR for Cancer is the only nationwide voluntary registry of U.S. firefighters that aims to track and understand their risk of occupational cancer. Currently, the NFR has more than 38,000 participants, making it the largest cohort of firefighters ever assembled to study their cancer risk. Dr. Fent has spent >15 years studying firefighters’ exposures and health effects and published over 100 scientific articles and reports. His research findings have provided evidence to support a variety of control measures to reduce carcinogenic exposures in the fire service. Dr. Fent actively serves on several first responder health and safety committees and advisory boards. He is also a Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and has responded to public health emergencies and disasters in the United States and abroad. 

Frank Leeb is the managing director of the First Responder Center for Excellence (FRCE). He previously served as a Deputy Assistant Chief in the Fire Department of New York. Retiring in June 2024 with more than 31 years. During his tenure with the FDNY, he held several senior staff positions, including the Chief of the Fire Academy, Chief of Training, and Chief of Safety. Frank has also been a member of the East Farmingdale Fire Department since 1983 (Long Island, NY).  

He is also the author of the best-selling book “Cornerstones of Leadership - On And Off The fireground” and the co-author of 30 Fires You Must Know”. He is also a senior advisor and minority owner of CRACKYL magazine.

Brian F. McQueen is a retired volunteer Fire Chief of the Whitesboro Fire Department, Whitesboro, NY. He is a forty-one year member of the volunteer service. McQueen is a retired public school educator spending most of his time as a Principal and a District Level School Administrator.

His local fire service tenure lead him to become active on the county and state level with the Oneida County Fire Chiefs Association, Oneida County Volunteer Firemen’s Association and the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) where he served 10 years as a Director. In November 2017, Brian was awarded the prestigious FASNY Golden Trumpet Award for his diligent work on occupational cancer in the fire service and his ability to work with state government officials in the passing of the state’s Volunteer Firefighter Cancer Law. This past April, Brian was awarded the First National Volunteer Fire Council’s Chief James P. Seavey Sr. Award for Excellence in Health and Wellness.

McQueen also is a member of the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) where he currently sits on the Executive Committee and is Co-Chairman of the Cancer Task Force for the NVFC. Brian represents the NVFC on the National Firefighter’s Cancer Alliance. Brian was instrumental in developing a working relationship with the IAFC-VCOS Cancer Committee in assisting in the development of the Lavender Ribbon Report that was introduced in FRI this past August.

What Brian is proud of is his battle with occupational cancer. In 2014, he was diagnosed with B-Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma which his oncologist says was attributed to his work as a volunteer firefighter. It was then that he went back to his community, worked with other volunteer leadership, and created the Believe 271 Foundation Inc., a not for profit Foundation developed to assist volunteer firefighters and their families who are battling cancer and life-threatening illnesses.

Lt. (Retired) Kevin Shea is a second generation FDNY firefighter, following in his fathers’ footsteps, and has over 40 years’ experience in emergency services with some of the most elite units in the world.

He joined FDNY in 1984 and worked in Engine 227 in Brooklyn, Ladder 108 in Brooklyn and Rescue 1 in Manhattan. While with FDNY, he was cited for bravery 7 times.

Kevin was involved in a highly documented rope rescue while in Rescue 1, as well as being severely injured during the 1993 bombing of the World Trade center while trying to effect a rescue. 

After retiring from the FDNY, Kevin went on to teach technical rescue to municipalities, the military, and private industry.  Kevin is currently the owner of Glacier Rescue Solutions and is a Senior Advisor for Lion Training Products. He is a member of National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI), and is on the NFPA advisory committees 1402 and 1403. Kevin serves on the staff of the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) held annually in Indianapolis, USA where he runs the classroom team, and is currently a contributing author for Fire Engineering Magazine.

Kevin is an avid hunter and fisherman, and above all else enjoys spending time with his family.