ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Another name connected to the city’s fire department has been inscribed on a memorial honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
Fire Marshal Jeff Tomczak, who died last summer after a 15-month battle with cancer, had his name added to the International Association of Fire Fighters Fallen Fire Fighter Wall of Honor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
A ceremony recognizing Tomczak and other names enshrined on the national memorial was scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 20.
“The names etched on the granite walls tell a bigger story — one of a century of sacrifice and a fire service that has given so much to keep families, businesses and communities safe.”IAFF Local 302 President Jeremy Warmkessel
“The names etched on the granite walls tell a bigger story — one of a century of sacrifice and a fire service that has given so much to keep families, businesses and communities safe,” IAFF Local 302 President Jeremy Warmkessel said in a release.
The memorial includes those who died on the fire ground, as well as the “alarming number who succumbed to occupation illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and post-traumatic stress,” Warmkessel said.
It comes a year after Assistant Chief Chris Kiskeravage was recognized and had his name added to the memorial.
Kiskeravage, who suffered from pancreatic cancer and had overcome testicular cancer, died in 2023.
He served with the Allentown Fire Department for 23 years, retiring as assistant chief for training in 2019. He worked as an Easton firefighter for eight years before that.
A life of service
Tomczak, 44, spent more than half his life serving fire departments across the region. He joined Upper Gwynedd Fire Department as a teen before enlisting in the Army.
He became a member of the Volunteer Medical Services Corp. in Lansdale in 2000, and also served with the Montgomery Township Department of Fire Services, Jefferson Fire Company and Montgomery County Department of Public Safety.
He was a firefighter with the Department of the Navy’s Fire and Emergency Service in Mechanicsburg from 2005-10, when he joined Allentown Fire Department.
Legislation, testing to protect firefighters
A bipartisan bill in the state Senate aims to protect firefighters and communities from toxic chemicals long linked to cancer — a move given urgency by the recent deaths of Tomczak, Kiskeravage and other firefighters in the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
Senate Bill 980 would phase out the manufacture, sale and use of firefighting foams containing per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, beginning in 2026.
The legislation follows years of warnings from health experts and fire service leaders that PFAS — so-called “forever chemicals” — linger in soil, water and the human body, contributing to serious illnesses, including multiple cancers.
Area firefighters, including those in Allentown and Bethlehem, recently have been part of screenings to help detect esophageal cancer, which they have a 62% greater chance of developing and a 39% higher risk of dying from than those in other occupations.
Bethlehem’s firefighters were the first in the state to take part in the pre-cancer screenings, with the test being used — the EsoGuard from Lucid Diagnostics — designed to detect precancerous biomarkers that can signal early stages of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
"It's one of those things where we don't want to see one of our members to come to this occupational cancer that hits our firefighters on a yearly basis and on a regular basis throughout our nation and throughout the world,” Allentown Fire Chief Efrain Agosto said after Tomczak’s death.
"And we continuously try to find ways to be able to avoid that."
Tomczak’s name was among 311 listed for this year’s Fallen Fire Fighter Wall of Honor Recipients. He is the third firefighter from Allentown placed on the wall since 2018.
"It’s an all too often reminder of how dangerous the firefighting profession can be," Warmkessel said.
