The state is launching a new effort to protect firefighters and their families from the risk of cancer: That includes releasing new protocols to fire departments on how to decontaminate themselves, along with an educational video.

Those protocols include rinsing off gear with a garden hose at low to remove contaminates at the scene of a fire. The goal of these protocols is to reduce firefighter's exposure to toxic contaminants by 85 percent.

Throughout the year, state experts will travel across the state to bring these protocols directly to firefighters. 

"The cancer is becoming quickly the number one leading causes of firefighter illness deaths across the country. We're recognizing where it's coming from, we're learning more and more about it, and because of our increased risk of cancer [through] firefighting, we are trying to decontaminate our firefighters as quickly as we can," said Francis Nerney, New York state fire administrator.

Studies have show firefighters suffer from an increased risk of cancer.