Face-To-Face With Scorching Wildfire: Potential toxicant Exposure and the Health Risks of Smoke For Wildland Firefighters at the Wildland-Urban interface

Authors

Jooyeon Hwang
Ngee-Sing Chong
Mengliang Zhang
Robert J Agnew
Chao Xu
Zhuangjie Li
Xin Xu

Publication Date

5-1-2023

Journal

Lancet Regional Health Americas

Abstract

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 firefighters' occupational exposure as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1). Wildfire smoke contributes to an increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, yet wildland firefighters have inadequate respiratory protection. The economic cost of wildland fires has risen concurrently, as illustrated by the appropriation of $45 billion for wildfire management over FYs 2011-2020 by the U.S. Congress. Occupational epidemiological studies of wildland firefighters are crucial for minimizing health risks; however, they must account for the mixture of exposures in wildfire smoke. This review focuses on four aspects of wildland firefighters' health risks at the wildland-urban interface: 1) economic costs and health impact, 2) respiratory protection, 3) multipollutant mixtures, and 4) proactive management of wildfires.

Keywords

Exposure assessment, Firefighter, Multi-pollutant mixtures of fire smoke, Occupational and environmental health, Prescribed burn, Wildfire, Wildland-urban interface (WUI)