# Michael Lecik Military Firefighters Protection Act

This bill makes it easier for military veterans who worked as firefighters to get disability benefits from the VA if they develop certain serious health conditions. Right now, veterans have to prove that their illness was caused by their military service, which can be difficult and time-consuming. This bill creates a shortcut by saying that if you were a military firefighter and you get one of these diseases, the VA will automatically assume it came from your firefighting work—you don't have to prove the connection yourself.

The bill covers veterans who spent at least five years doing firefighting or damage control work in the military. If they develop any of a long list of diseases—including various cancers (lung, brain, bladder, kidney, colon, liver, skin, breast), heart disease, lung disease, leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma—and the disease shows up within 15 years after they leave the military, they can qualify for benefits. The veteran also needs to have at least a 10 percent disability rating from the condition. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs can add more diseases to the list if they find strong evidence that firefighting causes them.

This matters because firefighters are exposed to toxic smoke, chemicals, and other hazardous materials that are known to cause serious health problems. Military firefighters often work in particularly dangerous conditions, fighting fires on ships, aircraft, and military bases. By creating these presumptions, the bill recognizes that these health risks are a real occupational hazard of military firefighting and removes the burden of proof from sick veterans. Instead of spending years fighting with the VA to prove their cancer or heart disease came from their job, veterans can get the benefits they need more quickly.

Michael Lecik Military Firefighters Protection Act

Spanberger, Abigail Davis

Michael Lecik Military Firefighters Protection Act This bill establishes a presumption of service-connection for specified diseases becoming manifest in certain veterans to a degree of disability of 10% or more within 15 years of the veteran's separation from active military, naval, or air service. Under a presumption of service-connection, specific diseases or disabilities diagnosed in certain veterans are presumed to have been caused by the circumstances of their military service. Health care benefits and disability compensation may then be awarded. Veterans addressed by this bill are those who (1) are trained in fire suppression, and (2) served on active duty in a military occupational specialty or career field with a primary responsibility of firefighting or damage control for at least five years in the aggregate.