Lieutenant Charlie Popp has been a firefighter in Boston for over 30 years. He says many of his friends have been diagnosed with cancer.

“There isn’t a firefighter on the job who couldn’t tell you about someone they know or work with that has been diagnosed, and in many cases died of cancer,” Popp said. “The risk is something that every firefighter in the country is living with right now.”

Popp is the president of the board of the Boston Fire Department Relief Fund, which has started an initiative to help pay for full-body health scans for firefighters to help detect cancer.

The medical scans usually cost around $800 and check for early signs of cardiovascular disease and cancer — particularly the types of cancer common in firefighters, like esophageal cancer and lymphoma.

The program started in January, and so far over 30 people have applied for funding, according to a Relief Fund spokesperson.

The Relief Fund reports that 45 Boston firefighters died from cancer between 2012 and 2017, most of whom who were still working and some within five years of retirement.

To respond to the high rate of illness, the Fund is offering to pay half of the fee for firefighters over the age of 50 who have been working in Boston for at least 20 years. Popp says he hopes they can expand the program to include more people.

“We need to almost triage members that would be eligible for it. So we first targeted guys that were a little bit older and have had more time on the job,” Popp said. “Those are the ones who were most likely to have something that needed to be looked at further addressed.”

Popp, 61, said he plans to get screened himself once more people have applied for funding.

The Relief Fund reports that heart disease and cancer have accounted for the majority of on-duty firefighter deaths, and that two thirds of Boston firefighters will be diagnosed with cancer.

Popp says the culture around firefighters’ high cancer risk has changed over the years. While firefighters used to just accept the risk as an inescapable part of the job, now they are more eager to address the issue and find solutions.

“When I came on the job, we were literally told, 'Look to your left, look to your right. One of you is going to die of cancer before you retire,'” he says. “Now, there's a very big focus on cancer prevention. One way to address it is early detection.”