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Displaying 21 - 40 of 120

Wildland firefighters are exposed to smoke-containing particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) while suppressing wildfires. From 2015 to 2017, the U.S. Forest Service conducted a field study collecting breathing zone…
Author(s): Kathleen M. Navarro, Molly West, Katelyn O'Dell, Paro Sen, I-Chen Chen, Emily V. Fischer, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Eric C. Apel, Alan J. Hills, Alex Jarnot, Paul DeMott, Joseph W. Domitrovich
Year Published:

This preview extrapolates the future increase in burn area predicted by Chao Wu et al. in this issue of One Earth to consider the inevitable increase in fire-derived pollution and implication to human health. Although these global-scale predictions…
Author(s): Nancy H. F. French, Tatiana V. Loboda, Robin Puett
Year Published:

Objective:To identify physiologic stressors related to cardiovascular disease via changes in metabolic, inflammatory, and oxidative stress biomarkers during 2 weeks of preseason training in wildland firefighters (WLFFs). Methods:Participants were…
Author(s): Shae Gurney, Katherine Christison, Cassie M. Williamson-Reisdorph, Joseph A. Sol, Tiffany S. Quindry, John C. Quindry, Charles L. Dumke
Year Published:

Uncompensable heat from wildland firefighter personal protective equipment decreases the physiological tolerance while exercising in the heat. Our previous work demonstrated that the standard wildland firefighter helmet significantly increases both…
Author(s): Katherine Christison, Shae Gurney, Charles L. Dumke
Year Published:

The wildland firefighter exposure and health effect (WFFEHE) study was a 2-year repeated-measures study to investigate occupational exposures and acute and subacute health effects among wildland firefighters. This manuscript describes the study…
Author(s): Kathleen M. Navarro, Corey Butler, Kenneth Fent, Christine Toennis, Deborah Sammons, Alejandra Ramirez-Cardenas, Kathleen A. Clark, David C. Byrne, Pamela S. Graydon, Christa Hale, Andrea F. Wilkinson, Denise L. Smith, Marissa C. Alexander-Scott, Lynne E. Pinkerton, Judith Eisenberg, Joseph W. Domitrovich
Year Published:

Burn-over crew protection systems have been installed into fleets of rural wildland Fire-Fighting Vehicles (FFVs) in parts of Australia, successfully providing protection for crews in recent large fires. Research out of the Country Fire Authority (…
Author(s): Andrew Webb, Andy Gooden
Year Published:

Wildland firefighters are directly exposed to elevated levels of wildland fire (WF) smoke. Although studies demonstrate WF smoke exposure is associated with lung function changes, few studies that use invasive sample collection methods have been…
Author(s): Chieh-Ming Wu, Anna M. Adetona, Chi Song, Luke P. Naeher, Olorunfemi Adetona
Year Published:

When attempting to suppress severe wildfire the possibility for firefighting crews to be overrun by wildfire, known as entrapment and burnover, remains a catastrophic and all too common occurrence. While improvements have been made to vehicle…
Author(s): Greg Penney, Daryoush Habibi, Marcus Cattani
Year Published:

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for co-occurring wildfires pose health threats to people around the globe. Along with the direct impacts of wildfires, exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5)—pollution composed of small inhalable…
Author(s): Francisca N. Santana, Stephanie L. Fischer, Marika O. Jaeger, Gabrielle Wong-Parodi
Year Published:

The location of shelters in different areas threatened by wildfires is one of the possible ways to reduce fatalities in a context of an increasing number of catastrophic and severe wildfires. These shelters will enable the population in the area to…
Author(s): Marc Demange, Virginie Gabrel, Marcel A. Haddad, Cécile Murat
Year Published:

Wildland firefighters are exposed to health hazards including inhaling hazardous pollutants from the combustion of live and dead vegetation (smoke) and breathe soil dust, while working long shifts with no respiratory protection. This research brief…
Author(s): Kathleen M. Navarro, Linda Mutch
Year Published:

Municipal firefighters count on their protective garments to avoid skin burns caused by thermal and flame exposures. Typical firefighting garment consists of three layers of different fire-resistant fabrics named as outer shell, moisture barrier and…
Author(s): Ahmed Ghazy
Year Published:

Key points -Wildland firefighters do not wear respiratory protection while working long hours and can be exposed to elevated concentrations of smoke. -There is very limited research on long-term health of wildland firefighters from smoke exposure…
Author(s): Kathleen M. Navarro
Year Published:

In 2018, Fire Management Today carried an article on smoke exposure (6 Minutes for Safety 2018). The article describes actions you can take to mitigate smoke exposure and techniques for reducing the exposure of firefighters to heavy smoke. The…
Author(s): Randall C. Thomas
Year Published:

Extreme wildfire events are becoming more common and while the immediate risks of particulate exposures to susceptible populations (i.e., elderly, asthmatics) are appreciated, the long-term health effects are not known. In 2017, the Seeley Lake (SL…
Author(s): Ava Orr, Cristi A. L. Migliaccio, Mary Buford, Sarah Ballou, Christopher T. Migliaccio
Year Published:

Hiking with a pack is the highest-intensity task that wildland firefighters (WLFFs) perform during sustained activities related to wildland fire suppression. Firefighters perform this and other tasks together as a crew; this provides a unique model…
Author(s): Steven E. Gaskill, Charles L. Dumke, Charles G. Palmer, Brent Ruby, Joseph W. Domitrovich, Joseph A. Sol
Year Published:

As wildfire seasons have expanded in duration and intensity, the effort and dedication required of wildland firefighters have increased (Withen 2015). Firefighters now work from April, when fuels first become available for burning, until well into…
Author(s): Ben McLane
Year Published:

In the present experiment we evaluated the impact of rapid heat stress on decision-making and neural function. Previous work has demonstrated that heat stress has an impact on cognitive and neural function. Here, we hypothesized that a rapid…
Author(s): Cory J. Coehoorn, Lynneth A. Stuart-Hill, Wande Abimbola, J. Patrick Neary, Olave E. Krigolson
Year Published:

The National Wildfire Coordination Group (NWCG) has done a good job of prioritizing safety in wildland fire operations and promoting human life over property. For example, fireline checklists inspired by aviation safety prove their worth every day.…
Author(s): Eli Schned
Year Published:

Escape routes keep firefighters safe by providing efficient evacuation pathways from the fire line to safety zones. Effectively utilizing escape routes requires a precise understanding of how much time it will take firefighters to traverse them. To…
Author(s): Patrick R. Sullivan, Michael J. Campbell, Philip E. Dennison, Simon C. Brewer, Bret W. Butler
Year Published: