ARIZONA NEWS
Retired Goodyear firefighter dies from occupational cancer
PHOENIX — A retired Goodyear firefighter passed away over the weekend after battling occupational cancer.
Engineer Austin M. Peck died Saturday from complications associated with an unspecified cancer he contracted while on the job, the Goodyear Fire Department said in a Facebook post.
“No matter what the situation, Austin always treated everyone with compassion,” Goodyear Fire Chief Paul Luizzi said in a press release Sunday. “His brothers and sisters are remembering not just how skilled he was at his job, but also the humor he brought to the work we do each day, especially on the toughest of days.”
Peck joined the department in 2008. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and recently retired in July of this year to continue his fight with cancer.
He will be memorialized by the Goodyear Fire Department as a line-of-duty death.
“It is with deepest regret and sorrow that the Goodyear Fire Department reports the line-of-duty death of retired Engineer Austin M. Peck,” the department’s post read on Sunday.
Peck is survived by his wife Erin and two daughters, Marley and Harper.
According to the Facebook post, details on funeral services will be announced as they are made available.
“Sadness doesn’t begin to describe the feeling when you lose a fellow firefighter to occupational cancer,” the Glendale Fire Department said in a Twitter post Sunday morning. “Engineer Austin Peck of the Goodyear Fire Department passes away yesterday after a long and hard battle against this devastating disease. We will keep fighting the good fight.”
Peck represents the latest firefighter to die from occupational cancer.
Phoenix firefighter Rick Telles died in January after battling an aggressive form of cancer that he contracted as a firefighter.
Mesa firefighter Nikki Sullivan died at 45 in April “after a courageous and tough fight with cancer.”
A second Phoenix firefighter, Brian Beck Jr., died at 31 in May.
“Occupational cancer has proven to be the new epidemic we face in the fire service,” United Phoenix Firefighters said in a Facebook post honoring Beck Jr. “Far too many precious colleagues of ours have been lost to this relentless illness.”
