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Background When firefighters evacuate from wildfires, escape routes are crucial safety measures, providing pre-defined pathways to a safety zone. Their key evaluation criterion is the time it takes for firefighters to travel along the planned escape…
Author(s): Junhao Sheng, Xingdong Li, Xinyu Wang, Yangwei Wang, Sanping Li, Dandan Li, Shufa Sun, Lijun Zhao
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Background: Wildland firefighters are likely to experience heightened risks to safety, health, and overall well-being as changing climates increase the frequency and intensity of exposure to natural hazards. Working at the intersection of natural…
Author(s): M. Bryan Held, Miranda Rose Ragland, Sage Wood, Amelia Pearson, Seth W. Pearson, Olivia Chenevert, Rachel M. Granberg, Robin M. Verble
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Background: Wildland firefighters have physically and psychologically demanding jobs that can result in social, economic and health-related stress. Previous studies have examined the physiological and physical effects of a career in wildland fire,…
Author(s): Rachel M. Granberg, Ting Shen, Seth W. Pearson, Robin M. Verble
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Background: Current guidance for implementation of United States federal wildland fire policy charges agencies with restoring and maintaining fire-adapted ecosystems while limiting the extent of wildfires that threaten life and property, weighed…
Author(s): Bradley Pietruszka, Jesse Young, Karen C. Short, Lise A. St. Denis, Matthew P. Thompson, David E. Calkin
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(1) Background: When a fire breaks out, combustibles are burned and toxic substances such as carbon monoxide (CO), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), benzene, and hydrogen cyanide are produced. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the air…
Author(s): Soo Jin Kim, Seunghon Ham
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In December 2022, twenty-one experts from land management agencies, Tribes, and organizations from across the country convened at the Wilderness and Fire Workshop in Gunnison, Colorado to consider the effects of over a century of fire exclusion on…
Author(s): Center for Public Lands Western Colorado University, USFS Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute,
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We aim to assess small airway dysfunction, spirometry, health-related quality of life (HR-QoL), and inflammatory biomarkers between the wildland firefighters and healthy controls. Lung function including impulse oscillometry (IOS) and spirometry, HR…
Author(s): Nutchanok Niyatiwatchanchai, Chaicharn Pothirat, Warawut Chaiwong, Chalerm Liwsrisakun, Nittaya Phetsuk, Pilaiporn Duangjit, Woranoot Choomuang
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Falling trees and tree fragments are one of the top five leading causes of fatalities for wildland fire responders. Wildfires - along with insect infestations, drought, disease, and other disturbances - have increased dead and dying trees in forests…
Author(s): Karen L. Riley, Kit O'Connor
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Building containment lines and removing fuels can bring wildland firefighters close to advancing flames. In these high-risk situations, firefighters depend on safety zones - large, open areas with little flammable material where they can retreat if…
Author(s): Daniel M. Jimenez
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This is a summary from the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Fire Science Workshop held June 27-28, 2023. It summarizes discussion points from the first day's breakout groups as well as some key discussion points from…
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Background: Medical services for wildland fire incidents are vital and fire personnel need to be comfortable seeking care and have adequate access to care. Aims: The aim of this study was to examine wildland firefighters’ (WLFFs) attitudes towards,…
Author(s): Mark Hoffman, Valerie J. Moody, Viktor E. Bovbjerg, Isabella Callis, Zachary Snauer
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There are approximately 1.2 million firefighters in the United States. In addition to fighting fires, they also participate in various tasks including emergency rescues, providing emergency medical care, driving, operating and maintaining fire…
Author(s): Crystal D. Forester, Jay Tarley
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Leaders are crucial to ensuring the well-being of their subordinates. This study aims to understand the effects of two leadership styles (empowering vs. directive) on subordinates’ well-being in an emergency situation (i.e., rural fire). A…
Author(s): Luis Curral, Laura Carmona, Raquel Pinheiro, Vitor Reis, Maria Jose Chambel
Year Published:

Safety-specific passive leadership has been negatively linked to diminished safety outcomes, including safety behaviors. However, this relationship is not fully understood. Research has not fully examined mediating factors that may be influenced by…
Author(s): Todd D. Smith, Mari-Amanda Dyal, David M. DeJoy
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Wilderness areas are important natural laboratories for scientists and managers working to understand fire. In the last half-century, shifts in the culture and policy of land management agencies have facilitated the management practice of letting…
Author(s): Mark R. Kreider, Melissa Jaffe, Julia Berkey, Sean A. Parks, Andrew J. Larson
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As wildfire risks have elevated due to climate change, the health risks that toxicants from fire smoke pose to wildland firefighters have been exacerbated. Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has reclassified wildland…
Author(s): Jooyeon Hwang, Ngee Sing Chong, Mengliang Zhang, Robert J. Agnew, Chao Xu, Zhuangjie Li, Xin Xu
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Studies showed that tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption frequently occur, and both are significant causes of preventable morbidity and mortality. Data were collected as part of a national online study of the health of women in the fire…
Author(s): Nattinee Jitnarin, Christopher K. Haddock, Christopher M. Kaipust, Walker S. C. Poston, Sara A. Jahnke
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This is a synthesis of the research priorities from the 2023 Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Fire Science Workshop as identified by participants. 
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As the wildland–urban interface continues to expand into fire prone areas, future wildfires will likely result in the burning of more built structures, such as the recent Marshall Fire in Colorado, which increases the complexity of the wildfire…
Author(s): Alice Gilliland, Tim Watkins
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Over the last 2 years, we have continued to characterize fire activity across the country as unprecedented and recordbreaking; it has challenged our wildland fire response system and all of us who are a part of it. Of course, another factor over…
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