Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Houston City Council Public Safety Committee met on October 13, 2026, to receive a presentation from the Houston Professional Firefighters Association (HPFFA) and UT Health Houston on the Texas Firefighter Cancer Study. Councilmembers Alcorn and Flickinger attended, along with staff from several council offices. No agenda or minutes were included with the transcript; this summary is based solely on the meeting transcript. No formal votes were taken, no public speakers signed up, and the next committee meeting was scheduled for Monday, November 9, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.
We are joined today by Councilmembers Alcorn and Flickinger and staff from the offices of Councilmember Castillo, Carter, Mayor Pro Tem Castaxatum, Thomas Romeras, Huffman, and Panzarella. And Martinez. We have one presentation today, and that will be from the Houston Professional Firefighters Association and UT Health. It will be about the Texas Firefighter Cancer Study Overview and Udate. Marty, if you would like to introduce anyone who's here and we'll have you begin. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Committee. It's my honor to introduce uh Dr. Jewin Wong, who is the uh principal lead researcher for UT Health School of Public Health. Uh also behind me, I have our director of public safety, excuse me, uh Director of Health and Safety, uh Gabe Dominguez, as well as the President Pro Tem uh Roy Cormier, uh, as well as other uh individuals that should be coming in from uh UT Health School of Public Health. So thank you. Um want to take just a brief second before we get started with this and uh let the council know today is the 25th anniversary of Captain Jay Yonke and his passing. It's something that has uh stayed with us when we talk about how we never forget and what the lessons that we have learned and what Captain Yonke and what his sacrifice did is change not only the Houston Fire Department but the fire service uh as a whole, and that is why we have a fourth man on the apparatus. So uh wanted to take a second and recognize uh the sacrifice of the Yonkee family and to remember his legacy. Um thank you all so much for uh being here and that everyone who has helped us uh get to this point. The research team, the legislative partners, the fire departments, the associations, and especially the firefighters themselves. It has been exciting to hear the early insights uh of the research here at UT Health Houston and consider what those findings could mean for the health of those who put their lives in the line every single day. When we were working in Austin in spring of 2025 to secure funding for this research, who would have thought that sitting here today, uh one year into the study, we have 700 firefighters that have signed up for this absolutely one of a kind uh research study that it's never been done. Uh I'm very proud. And not only are we proud of the 700, but I can tell this uh committee that we expect to have a thousand participants, which in a research study like this is truly remarkable. Uh that includes cadets that are just beginning their career, active firefighters who have been serving, retirees who have already given decades of service because of the firefighters participating participating in this study and having the courage. They're helping to build knowledge that could protect the firefighters not just here at Houston, but around the world. The next class of cadets of people who enter this profession long after we're gone, are the people we are trying most to teach and to protect. The response tells us how much this work matters to firefighters and their families, and I can assure you that we want answers. When we went to the legislature, we carried the experience of our members with us, the colleagues that are facing a diagnosis, the families trying to hold everything together through treatment, the friend whose retirement was supposed to be a beginning, not an ending. Those experiences drove the push for this study, and they will drive us moving forward today. Dr. Ju Yun Wong and the UT Health Houston team, our health and safety director, Captain Gabe Dominguez, District Chief Marino, our Houston Professional Firefighters Board of Directors, our partners of the T uh TSAF, Representative Lacey Hall, Representative Jared Patterson, and so many other legislative champions helped turn this need into an investment. We want to thank them for standing with us. We want to thank Madam Chair for standing with the firefighters and supporting this. We are beyond grateful. Just so you all know and have an idea, just last week we had the Texas Firefighter Cancer Symposium at the new building of the UT Health School of Public Health building in the medical center. It is a beautiful building that is dedicated to the research of not only a firefighter cancer but also other occupational diseases. We had legislators from across the state attend. We had firefighters from across the state attend, and we had the entire research team that spans the state of Texas that were in attendance as well. We were thankful to have Mayor Whitmire come and speak, as well as many other elected officials. We have to continue to grow and continue giving researchers the support to follow the evidence and use what they learn to drive change that firefighters can feel in their own lives. That means finding ways to limit harmful exposures, improve screening and early detection, and develop policies that protect us throughout our careers and after we retire. The science can help guide decisions about how we train, how we equip our firefighters, and how we protect their health. Continued partnership among researchers, lawmakers, city council, and the fire service is critical. You could be sure that myself and HPFA will be working to make sure that happens. Here in Houston, we see why that matters. Firefighters from across the United States and Canada come here for cancer treatment at the world renowned MD Anderson. We welcome them, we help them, we stand with their families, and we will continue to do that. But imagine what it would mean if research led at the let but imagine what it would mean if the research that was led here could help make more of those firefighters avoid the diagnosis or find it sooner. The impact of that on their families who go through everything with them.