When Lt. Tony Humble raced to a fire on Sept. 30 and found an apartment engulfed in smoke, he didn't stop to check his life insurance policy or hesitate for the few pounding heartbeats that separate heroes from the rest of us, who think an act of courage is opening the mail without rubber gloves.

        He did what firemen and cops do — he ran into the apartment and rescued four children.

        “We got lucky that day,” he said. “I got one, the policemen got two and another firefighter got the other one. That was a good day.”

        Lt. Humble has been a Norwood fireman and paramedic since 1986. He can't count all the people he has rescued from fires, pried from mangled cars or cradled while ambulances wailed in the distance.

        Now that we've seen the ash-embalmed wrecks of fire engines buried in the World Trade Center grave, we have a new appreciation for people like Lt. Humble.

        A few days after those kids were rescued in Norwood, Tim Condron called to tell me Lt. Humble had another story to tell, about a deadly disease called Hepatitis C. Like many emergency workers nationwide, Lt. Humble didn't know he had it for years, until it showed up in a medical test last May.

        Mr. Condron, whose fireman father died of Hepatitis B, did some research and found that lots of firefighters may be dying from diseases they caught from bleeding accident victims. And many don't qualify for Ohio Workers' Compensation benefits because the injuries are too old to be documented when symptoms appear. Infections passed through scratches or cuts can lie dormant for 10 years.

        It gets worse. “Firefighters are 200 percent more likely to contract cancer because of exposure to toxic materials,” said John Eisel, legislative director of the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters (OAPF). “Just look around your office. Things that look harmless can produce a tremendous amount of chemicals when they burn.”

        His statistics on firefighters' risks show: 200 percent above normal for throat cancer; 300 percent for lung disease; 140 percent for pancreatic cancer.

        The OPFA has proposed a bill that would make it easier for emergency workers to get Ohio Workers' Compensation and disability benefits without proving specific injuries.

        It makes a big difference. Tax-exempt Workers' Compensation benefits, at two-thirds of salary, almost equal an after-tax paycheck.

        About 20 states have similar laws. But Ohio Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, said, “I don't see any need to push for hearings. I want to be very careful about opening a Pandora's box. When you start to take someone's word for it on workers comp, where does it stop?”

        Well, I'd say it stops after we protect people like Lt. Humble who risk their lives for us.

        “There definitely is a gap for some,” said Jim Gamble, director of corporate affairs for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

        Mr. Gamble said he would personally look into Lt. Humble's case: “I don't see any reason he can't get a claim in the system and get it working.”

        Lt. Humble starts medication this week that he hopes will spare him the ordeal of seeking a liver transplant. He remembers two needle sticks — but they happened long before testing for Hepatitis C began.

        His wife, Lisa, wrote letters to Ohio lawmakers. A few replied, but none offered much help. Not even after Sept. 11.

        “I like my job,” Lt. Humble said. “It's an honorable job. I just sure hope the state will stand up for the firefighters.”

        He's not asking us to run into a burning building. He just wants us to do the honorable thing for people who do.

        Contact Enquirer Associate Editor Peter Bronson at 768-8301; fax: 768-8610; e-mail: pbronson@enquirer.com. Cincinnati.Com keyword: Bronson.

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