(Around 40 firefighters ride in a pack along San Andreas Road during the Fire Velos ride from Sausalito to Los Angeles in a fundraiser to help battle cancer. Photo by Tarmo Hannula/Pajaronian)
WATSONVILLE — More than 40 firefighters came into Watsonville Monday after a 70-mile bicycle ride from Half Moon Bay, one leg of a six-day, 484-mile ride that began Sunday in Sausalito and will end Saturday at Santa Monica Pier.
The annual Fire Service Cancer Awareness Bicycle Ride was created to raise awareness of, and funding for, a crisis that has in the past gone unchecked.
According to Watsonville Fire Capt. Rick Pettigrew, firefighters are nine percent more likely to develop cancer than other people, thanks to the smoke, truck exhaust and other contaminants they encounter in the course of their jobs.
For Pettigrew, who was doing his sixth ride, this year’s event was particularly poignant. Emblazoned on his riding shirt were the names of two firefighters — Steve Brosig from Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District, who died in 2015, and Clayton Ogden from Santa Cruz Fire Department, who died in 2017. Both men died from cancer.
To participate, riders each raised their own entry fee, all of which will go to support firefighters with cancer and raise awareness about the high rates of cancer that affect the profession.
Cindy Ell, founder and president of Fire Fighter Cancer Foundation, Inc., said that about 63 percent of firefighters are diagnosed with some form of cancer.
Pettigrew said that the ride has done its job of changing firefighting culture locally.
With the help of a health and wellness committee made up of several city fire departments, many agencies have implemented a wide range of safety procedures designed to keep hazardous contaminants at bay.
“It’s really made a difference in Santa Cruz County,” he said. “We really want these young guys coming in to have a retirement.”
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The ride is sponsored by National Fire Velo Cycling Club, a riding club made up largely of firefighters but open to any rider.
For information, visit www.firevelo.com.
