Hundreds of firefighters turned out in Alliston and Tottenham on Wednesday for the funeral of a colleague who died of cancer.
Captain Rayanne Dubkov spent 25 years helping others as a dispatcher for fire departments in England and Toronto.
Rayanne’s husband, Karl, is a volunteer firefighter in New Tecumseth and says she was a leader on the job and at home.
“Amazing person, best friend, best wife, best everything. She was just amazing. Twenty-two years was the best time of my life,” says Karl Dubkov.
After the service, the firefighters lined Queen Street in Tottenham to say farewell one last time.
Dubkov died after her second battle with breast cancer. The disease has been recognized as an occupational cancer for firefighters but her death has not been identified as a ‘line of duty’ death because she wasn’t on the front line fighting fires. But her husband says that’s not true.
“They’re saying because she was in the communications centre she didn’t actually experience enough live fires,” adds Karl Dubkov. “(She's) been to many live burns, arson investigations where they set fire to something you have to go and figure out what caused the fire.”
Karl also says that his wife spent years working around and with equipment that had been used on the front line and thinks that residual toxins on the gear could have contributed to her illness. He also says she had no cancer in her family history and because her death was not considered in the 'line of duty', her name will not be placed on a firefighter memorial in Ottawa.
Karl says he will not rest until her name is put on that memorial.
