Longtime N.S. volunteer firefighter battling cancer won't receive compensation

Haley Ryan · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 24, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

When Bruce Masales was diagnosed with Stage 4 bladder cancer, helium says the quality came without warning.

But arsenic a longtime unpaid Halifax firefighter, Masales said helium astatine slightest took comfortableness successful the content helium would person fiscal compensation. 

However, Masales said helium was told helium doesn't suffice nether the provincial Workers' Compensation Board or different municipal security coverage, falling done a spread successful some systems.

"I'm sitting determination — I was benignant of shocked," Masales said recently.

The doctors discovered the crab during an unrelated country helium had past summer, Masales said.

He was diagnosed successful August 2024 with metastatic Stage 4 bladder crab — meaning it had dispersed to different organs. Masales was primitively told helium had astir a twelvemonth to live.

"I'm going, 'Well, hold a minute, what happened to Stage 1, 2, 3, and I bypassed that?,' … due to the fact that I conscionable had nary symptoms," helium said.

Masales spent a 21-year unpaid vocation astatine Station 16 successful his location assemblage of Eastern Passage, retiring successful 2017.

He said helium loved the role. It was hard enactment being a unpaid firefighter and handling a time job, but it was important to "give backmost to the community."

The workers' compensation committee has presumptively covered bladder crab for firefighters since 1993, recognizing the accrued crab hazard related to being a firefighter.

"I ne'er smoked successful my life, ne'er did drugs successful my life, didn't portion capable to accidental I drank," Masales said. "I cognize radical that did each 3 to excess, and they're steadfast arsenic a horse."

Masales primitively applied to the workers' compensation committee due to the fact that helium appeared to acceptable their criteria of serving astatine slightest 15 years to suffice for bladder-cancer coverage. But his assertion was rejected due to the fact that the Halifax Regional Municipality lone began paying into the committee successful January 2021 — after Masales had left.

"Found … the [Firefighters' Compensation Act] that said the state would instrumentality attraction of their firefighters," Masales said. 

"Well, they'll lone instrumentality attraction of them if the municipalities that they are in, are paying the wealth in."

The state made it mandatory for municipalities to supply crab sum for unpaid firefighters successful 2020. Before then, determination was a patchwork crossed the state wherever immoderate areas utilized the workers' compensation committee and others lone backstage security with varying levels of benefits.

Halifax utilized a backstage security argumentation for volunteers betwixt 1996 and 2021. Municipal spokesperson Laura White said the security had a crab payment of $5,000, but lone applied to volunteers diagnosed portion successful "active service." 

Masales said helium wonders however galore different Halifax volunteers mightiness beryllium caught successful this spread if they retired earlier 2021  because crab usually takes years to amusement up.

When helium joined successful 1996, Masales said determination were astir 1,200 volunteers crossed the municipality moving alongside vocation firefighters, similar astatine Station 16. That has dropped implicit the years to present astir 560 progressive volunteers successful Halifax, and 550 vocation members.

"HRM Fire is the largest occurrence section successful Nova Scotia, right? And they dropped the shot not protecting their volunteers," Masales said.

"But I deliberation the state dropped the shot due to the fact that close present wherever the authorities is based … idiosyncratic indispensable person noticed astatine immoderate constituent successful time, 'Jeez, we should beryllium getting wealth from these 1,200 volunteers. You know, the metropolis should person been paying [WCB]."

Eight claims denied successful caller years

Steve MacDonald, the spokesperson for the workers' compensation committee successful Nova Scotia, said the committee received 60 claims for compensation related to crab from unpaid firefighters crossed the state betwixt 2020 and 2024.

The committee didn't supply benefits in 8 of those cases. MacDonald said this could hap for a fig of reasons and "it is rather imaginable sum whitethorn person been successful place, but the assertion whitethorn not person proceeded for different reason."

MacDonald didn't accidental wherever the claims came from retired of privateness concerns.

Any compensation would person made a existent difference, Masales said, due to the fact that there's things he'd emotion to bash "before I go" that helium can't spend — like visiting Gibsons, B.C., wherever they filmed the iconic TV bid Beachcombers. He'd besides similar to amended the location to marque things easier connected his wife.

Masales went done 4 rounds of chemotherapy past fall. His doctors judge helium has astir 2 years near to unrecorded with the enactment of immunotherapy treatment.

Although it was a alleviation to get the quality helium has a small spot much clip than helium primitively thought, Masales said helium feels similar "Wile E. Coyote and the ACME anvil sitting up waiting to drop."

Masales said helium went to his MLA Barbara Adams, who looked into his lawsuit but said determination was thing she could do.

Provincial spokesperson Greg Hanna said the Nova Scotia authorities is ever looking for ways to amended enactment firefighters and "the absorption present is connected ensuring that each progressive firefighters are covered moving forward."

The Halifax Professional Fire Fighters relation represents vocation members and not volunteers, but president Brendan Meagher said each firefighter dealing with crab deserves support.

He said it "doesn't consciousness similar justice" that idiosyncratic who has been exposed to fume and toxic chemicals done their work isn't covered because they were diagnosed aft they left.

"You know, there's an onus connected the metropolis to marque definite that radical are taken attraction of," Meagher said.

Coun. Becky Kent, Masales's section councillor, said she couldn't talk to his circumstantial lawsuit but it's "always discouraging" erstwhile systems don't enactment for the radical they're designed to support.

When asked if she would research a city-funded programme to assistance unpaid firefighters successful this gap, Kent said it depends connected the model. But she said she would see "any bully idea."

CBC asked to talk with Halifax CAO Cathie O'Toole astir this spread for volunteers, but she declined the request.