Their fire engines will remain the same colors, but the firefighters of Marysville and Arlington will be wearing pink with their uniforms throughout the month of October in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

While members of the Marysville Fire District are set to don their pink T-shirts from Oct. 18-20, members of the Arlington Fire Department already wore their pink T-shirts on Oct. 3, and will do so again on Oct. 11, 15, 23, 24 and 30.

The International Association of Fire Fighters and the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters have each encouraged all their members to participate in the “Cares Enough to Wear Pink” campaign, to help raise funds and awareness for all women who are battling cancer. The two groups are urging firefighters to join together and help lead the way in portraying an image of hope, strength and courage to those women who worry about being alone in their battle for life.

“Cancer affects all of us on some level or another,” said Jason Schoonover, captain and president Marysville Fire Local 3219. “This is another way for us to reach out and support those affected.”

“Our firefighters came to us because they wanted to be on board with this,” said Kristin Banfield, assistant city administrator for Arlington, who noted that it’s been at least three years since Arlington firefighters first showed their support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month by donning pink T-shirts. “As part of the calls they go out on, they’ve seen people being treated for cancer, so they know the value of early detection.”