Pre-filed bill would extend work-related cancer benefits to volunteer firefighters

A new bill pre-filed for 2025’s upcoming legislative session would expand compensation for paid firefighters who contract cancer on the job to include volunteer firefighters. 

HB35, authored by State Rep. Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster, “would provide compensation to the survivors of a volunteer firefighter who dies of work-related cancer by making them eligible for the death benefit awarded by the State Board of Adjustment for first responders who die in the line of duty.”

Bedsole himself worked in the Shelby County Sherrif’s Office for over 20 years and received an endorsement from the Professional Fire Fighters of Alabama when he campaigned for District 49’s vacant seat in 2020. 

Under Article 1, Chapter 30, Title 36, Code of Alabama 1975, which covers deaths in the line of duty, traditional firefighters’ families are already eligible for compensation if their loved one dies from work-related cancer. HB35 would expand that coverage to include volunteer firefighters and their families. 

According to the bill, volunteer firefighters include any person “who has been certified as a volunteer firefighter through the Alabama Firefighters’ Personnel Standards and Education Commission or who has received an equivalent certification to qualify as a volunteer firefighter before residing in this state.”

Survivors of a volunteer firefighter who dies as a result of work-related cancer can receive compensation from the state if the individual worked as a volunteer firefighter for at least six years before being diagnosed with cancer. The individual must also have first displayed cancer symptoms while still serving as an active member of their volunteer fire department. 

The claimant must also demonstrate that the volunteer was exposed to a carcinogen through “fire
suppression events in which the firefighter participated.” The state may deny compensation if it is able to prove by a “preponderance of evidence” that the cancer was caused by some other means.

If signed into law, the act would go into effect on Oct. 1, 2025.