©Oregon State Fire Marshal

Three new names were recently engraved on the Oregon fallen firefighters’ memorial wall in Salem. All three died of cancer believed to be connected to their firefighting duties. One of them was Brian Wolgamott. Wolgamott started his career as a Wildland Firefighter for the United States Forest Service in 2012. In 2022, he was diagnosed with cancer. He kept his cancer diagnosis relatively private, according to his GoFundMe, which also noted his cancer was believed to be linked to environmental toxins he was exposed to while fighting fires. He was 42 when he died, leaving behind a wife and three children, including a 4-year-old. He was one of three people, including Portland Fire & Rescue retired Captain Jim Bieker and Sutherlin Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Merlino, whose names were memorialized this summer. All of them died of cancer linked to firefighting.