‘Cancer’: Film focuses on firefighters fighting cancer
Short film edited by MHS grad
Posted: Wednesday, December 16, 2015 10:21 am | Updated: 11:44 am, Thu Dec 17, 2015.
Exposure to heat, smoke and toxins is causing cancer in firefighters. In Boston, firefighters have a cancer rate 2. 5 times higher than that of the general population. On average, 20 Boston firefighters per year are diagnosed with cancer. Since 1990, the Boston Fire Department has lost nearly 180 members to occupational cancer.
As part of the fire department’s new cancer awareness program, Embryo Creative was commissioned last winter to conceptualize and produce a video. Pete Scheehle, a 1997 Milton High School graduate, works for Embryo Creative, a Boston-based content marketing and advertising firm, and edited the video. The son of Dennis and Judy Scheehle of Fort Atkinson works in film and video production and moved to Boston after graduating from the University of Iowa in 2001.
“Cancer,” a 3.5-minute documentary, was funded through a grant secured by the City of Boston. Collaborators included the fire department, its commissioner, Joseph Finn, and its union, Local 718. All had one goal in mind: saving the lives of firefighters.
Richie Paris, president of Boston Firefighters Local 718, in a letter, told Boston firefighters, “Many of the faces you see in the video will be old friends and relatives. Do not let their deaths be in vain. Learn from their passing. Wear all of your protective gear, all of the time.
“We have a dangerous job, and unfortunately, wearing your gear will never protect you from the unknown. However, it will protect you from what we do know. We know that cancer is killing our members and it is time to do something about that.”
Scheehle said the BFD commissioner wanted a short video that they could show to young firefighters to help “wake them up” to how they need to take seriously all the training and safety precautions put in front of them. Finn also wanted to educate politicians and the general public.
Video was shot during a weekend in February and the finished product was done in May.
Much of the footage is emotional.
“We knew we had a great piece when we showed it to the Boston fire commissioner and a few of the deputy chiefs,” Scheehle said. “We could see the tears in their eyes.”
Many others watching the piece have had a similar reaction.
The video is shown at the Back to Basics Training in conjunction with information on preventative measures.
Young recruits, who often feel invincible, are taught the importance of keeping their masks on, taking a shower before going home after a fire and removing toxic soot from gear.
Scheehle commented, “The BFD’s cancer awareness and prevention program has been so successful that they now are at the forefront of this issue for fire departments nationally and internationally.”
Making an impact to raise awareness felt quite gratifying, Scheehle said, “like I was helping to make a difference.”
Last month, the video won a Silver Award at the 55th Annual Hatch Awards, an advertising industry award from The Ad Club, a New England advertising trade group.
This month, Embryo Creative started working on a second firefighter safety video commissioned by the Boston Fire Department.
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