By William Melhado
The Sacramento Bee
Nearly a decade after New York City firefighters ran into the burning World Trade Center buildings, Congress passed legislation to provide first responders with medical treatments to address the health consequences from their courageous actions on Sept. 11, 2001.
Over two decades later, firefighters responding to large-scale incidents burning near urban areas — such as those in Los Angeles that burned over 50,000 acres earlier this year — are facing similar levels of toxic exposure.
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“These incidents now, they’re 9/11-scale exposure incidents for firefighters,” said Matt Rahn, the research director at the Wildfire Conservancy, a nonprofit that works to improve firefighters’ health.
California is taking further steps to study the negative health effects firefighters face when battling blazes in increasingly urban environments in an effort to develop better protections for those on the front lines of fires.
On Tuesday, the Governor’s Office announced further investment in a research study to understand the link between cancer risks and fighting fires in California.
Through that research, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection hopes to develop effective and efficient mitigation strategies that protect the range of workers fighting fires across the state, said Jeremy Lawson, a Cal Fire staff chief over safety and emergency medical service programs. CAL FIRE contributed $9.7 million to the study, a department spokesperson confirmed.
Federal officials update mask policy
The study’s announcement arrived on the same day that the U.S. Forest Service announced a new policy designed to protect wildland firefighters from cancer-causing toxins in smoke by providing masks.
Lawson said Cal Fire makes N-95 masks available to those fighting fires, which can protect firefighters from particulate matter and certain irritants that cause Valley Fever, a fungal infection, Lawson said.
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For the study, researchers from University of California campuses in Davis and Los Angeles will compare the exposures of firefighters who responded to the Eaton and Palisades fires to a control group. Over a two-year period, the study will focus on 3,500 firefighters from departments across California, the Governor’s Office said.
Lawson noted that Cal Fire is part of another research project, the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study, related to exposures at the wildland-urban interface. Like the other California-based project, the cohort study aims to “help maintain the health of our employees in the immediate and long-term future,” Lawson said.”
Cancer rates have always been higher among firefighters compared to the average population, Rahn said. But the cancer risk posed to wildland firefighters has increased recently because wildfires are occurring in more developed areas. Instead of inhaling just burning vegetation, wildland firefighters are increasingly exposed to hazardous and carcinogenic substances, Rahn said.
Lithium batteries, other toxic materials elevate risk
Rahn pointed to lithium batteries in electric vehicles as a new source of contamination, which historically wasn’t a major concern. Certain types of heavy metals can cause all sorts of health impairments, including cancer, Rahn said.
“There’s a growing awareness among the firefighters, and the scientific community that the cancer risk, the occupational exposures, come from all the respiratory exposures,” Rahn said.
Both Rahn and Lawson noted that CAL FIRE is working with California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health to develop regulations around respiratory protections.
A Cal-OSHA spokesperson confirmed that the division has circulated draft regulatory language that would require employers to provide wildland firefighters with half- or full-face respirators with built-in filters. The draft proposal still needs to go through Cal-OSHA’s formal rulemaking process.
Rahn said there isn’t currently a device that can meet wildland firefighters’ needs to be in the field for extended periods of time while also providing sufficient protection.
In the absence of that, it’s important to continue doing research about the risks firefighters face and provide the best available level of protection, even if that is just N-95 masks, to those on the front lines, Rahn said.
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