H.R. 2244 — Michael Lecik Military Firefighters Protection Act

This section establishes presumptions of service connection for 16 specified diseases associated with firefighting—including heart disease, lung disease, brain cancer, cancers of the blood or lymphatic systems, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, reproductive system cancer (including testicular), digestive system cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, skin cancer, lung cancer, and breast cancer—for veterans trained in fire suppression who served at least five years in aggregate on active duty in a military occupational specialty or career field with primary responsibility for firefighting or damage control, if the disease manifests to a degree of 10% or more within 15 years of separation from active service. (Thus, qualifying veterans receive VA disability compensation under 38 U.S.C. §1110 without proving the disease was incurred or aggravated by service, subject to rebuttal under §1113.) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may prescribe regulations to add further diseases with a positive association to firefighting.