Biological Monitoring of Smoke Exposure Among Wildland Firefighters PDF Download
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Author: R. Neitzel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 10
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Author: R. Neitzel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 10
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Author: Christopher E. DeForest
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 64
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Author: Timothy E. Reinhardt
Publisher: Ecosystems Research Alliance
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 72
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This paper reviews and summarizes literature about smoke exposure and the resulting adverse effects among wildland firefighters.
Author: Timothy E. Reinhardt
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest fire fighters
Languages : en
Pages : 84
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Author: David L. Peterson
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030870456
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 346
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This open access book synthesizes current information on wildland fire smoke in the United States, providing a scientific foundation for addressing the production of smoke from wildland fires. This will be increasingly critical as smoke exposure and degraded air quality are expected to increase in extent and severity in a warmer climate. Accurate smoke information is a foundation for helping individuals and communities to effectively mitigate potential smoke impacts from wildfires and prescribed fires. The book documents our current understanding of smoke science for (1) primary physical, chemical, and biological issues related to wildfire and prescribed fire, (2) key social issues, including human health and economic impacts, and (3) current and anticipated management and regulatory issues. Each chapter provides a summary of priorities for future research that provide a roadmap for developing scientific information that can improve smoke and fire management over the next decade.
Author: Timothy E. Reinhardt
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Author: Kathleen McGuire Navarro
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 98
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This dissertation combines traditional methods of exposure assessment with new approaches to evaluate exposures in community and occupational settings to air contaminants commonly emitted from wildland fires and found in the ambient environment. Wildland fires emit large amounts of air pollutants known to cause adverse health effects. Past exposure assessments of wildland fires have measured levels of fine and respirable particulate matter (PM2.5-PM4), acrolein, benzene, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, crystalline silica, total particulates, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). I evaluated exposures to air pollutants associated with wildland fires, specifically PM2.5 and PAHs at different exposure receptor levels - in communities near a wildland fire, occupational exposures of wildland firefighters, and biomarkers of exposure in the US population. First, I evaluated air quality impacts of PM2.5 from smoke from a mega wildland fire on receptor areas in California and Nevada. The 2013 Rim Fire was the third largest wildland fire in California history and burned 257,314 acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This project employed two approaches to examine the air quality impacts, (1) an evaluation of PM2.5 concentration data collected by temporary and permanent air monitoring sites and (2) an estimation of intake fraction (iF) of PM2.5 from smoke. The Rim Fire impacted locations in the central Sierra nearest to the fire and extended to northern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and Nevada monitoring sites. Daily 24-hr average PM2.5 concentrations measured at 22 air monitors had an average concentration of 20 [mu]g/m3 and ranged from 0 to 450 [mu]g/m3. iF for PM2.5 from smoke during the active fire period was 7.4 per million, which is slightly higher to representative iF for PM2.5 in rural areas and much lower than for urban areas. This study is a unique application of intake fraction to examine emissions-to-exposure for wildfires and emphasizes that air quality cannot only be localized to communities near large fires but can extend long distances and impact larger urban areas. Next, I characterized exposures of wildland firefighters during wildland fire and prescribed fires to PAHs, explore associations between exposure and firefighting job tasks, and examine off-duty and community PAH and PM2.5 concentrations. Wildland firefighters working to control wildland fires work long shifts and are exposed to high levels of wood smoke with no respiratory protection. PAHs were measured on 21 wildland firefighters (N=28) while suppressing two wildland fires and 4 wildland firefighters conducting prescribed burns in California. Personal air samples were collected using actively sampled XAD-coated quartz fiber filters. Filters in cassette cases were attached to the back of each wildland firefighter's backpack. Community-level PAH air samples were collected for the first 12 days of a wildland fire and were collocated with a PM2.5 sampler. Samples were analyzed for 17 individual PAHs through extraction with dichloromethane and analyzed on a gas chromatograph with a mass selective detector. I detected measurable concentrations of 17 PAHs in personal samples on firefighters at prescribed and wildland fires and in area samples at a community nearby a wildland fire. Naphthalene, retene, and phenanthrene were consistently the highest measured PAHs at all three sampling scenarios. PAH concentrations were higher at wildland fires compared to prescribed fires and were highest for firefighters during job tasks that involve the most direct contact with smoke near an actively burning wildland fire. Although concentrations do not exceed current occupational exposure limits, wildland firefighters are exposed to PAHs not only on the fire line at wildland fires, but also while working prescribed burns and while off-duty. It is important to characterize exposures from wildland fires to better understand any potential long-term health effects. Lastly, I evaluated predictors of urinary PAH concentrations in 2001-2006 NHANES participants from a variety of sources including demographic information, food intake, housing characteristics, and modeled outdoor air pollutant exposures. Biomonitoring data provides a direct way to link human exposure to environmental contaminants. However, these data do not reveal how various exposure routes or media contribute to the body burden of a specific chemical. NHANES participants were linked to their census tract-level daily PM2.5 exposure estimate, outdoor temperature, and annual air toxics concentrations. Multivariate linear regression models were developed using the Deletion/Substitution/ Addition algorithm to predict urinary PAH levels using NHANES questionnaire data for model selection in all and non-smoking adult NHANES participants. Exposure parameters were then added to each model. Model fit was assessed by comparing the R2 for each model tested. Exposure to PM2.5 and air toxics emissions were not associated with levels of urinary PAH metabolites. In the analysis current smoking status was the strongest predictor of PAH biomarker concentration and was able to explain 10% - 47% of the variability of PAH biomarker concentrations. The DSA selected models did not improve prediction in the "all adults" analysis. They were able to explain 10% - 51% of the variability of PAH biomarker concentrations in all adults. Among non-smokers, the DSA selected variables only explained 2% - 5% of the variability in biomarker concentrations. Further studies of routes of exposure of PAHs should be completed to understand how PAHs in the environment are contributing to the body burden of PAH. This study demonstrated how a rich dataset of biomarkers with individual information on demographics, food intake, and air pollution exposures can be used to examine the contribution of each route of exposure on the body burden. With the predicted increase of fire season in the western United States due to climate change resulting in more acres burned and smoke produced, it is important to quantify the air quality impacts from wildfires to develop effective strategies to protect public and wildland firefighter health. These methods outlined in this dissertation can be used to better estimate short-term and long-term health risks, so that public and occupational health practitioners, air quality regulators, and natural resource managers can develop mitigation strategies to reduce exposure to wildland fire smoke.
Author: Timothy E. Reinhardt
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest fire fighters
Languages : en
Pages : 61
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Author: Chieh-Ming Wu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Carbon monoxide
Languages : en
Pages : 145
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Background: Wildland firefighters are repeatedly exposed to elevated levels of wildland fire smoke during wildfire suppression and prescribed burns. Information of wildland fire smoke exposure of wildland firefighters is only available for the western and southeastern United States, and no assessment of this occupational exposure has been reported for the midwestern region. Since different geographic areas have unique vegetative fuels, soil characteristics, and fire conditions, wildland firefighters working in the midwestern states might be exposed to different levels of wildland fire smoke with different particle compositions. As past studies of more disease-relevant outcomes have been mostly limited to pulmonary and respiratory responses, acute cardiovascular effects and systemic oxidation due to occupational wildland fire smoke exposure were investigated among wildland firefighters. Objectives: The specific aims of this study are to 1) characterize occupational exposure of wildland firefighters to air pollutants, including particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter equal to or less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), black carbon (BC), and trace metals in wildland fire smoke emissions from prescribed burns in the midwestern United States; 2) assess the effect of wildland fire smoke exposure on acute cardiovascular responses by investigating cross-shift changes in hemodynamic parameters, blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), among wildland firefighters on prescribed burn days and compare those to the corresponding changes on regular work days; 3) determine the effect of wildland fire smoke exposure on systemic oxidation by studying cross-shift changes in oxidative biomarkers, 8-isoprostane, malondialdehyde (MDA), and oxidized guanine species (Ox-GS) in spot urine samples collected from wildland firefighters on prescribed burn days and their associations with urinary mutagenic potency; and 4) investigate task-related difference (holding, lighting, others) in personal exposure concentrations of air pollutants, in resting BP and HR, and in oxidative biomarkers and urinary mutagenicity. Methods: Exposure concentrations of PM2.5 and CO were monitored in the breathing zoom of wildland firefighters working at prescribed burns. Following the sampling, smoke particulate constituents, BC and heavy metals, were quantified using the light absorption technique and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), respectively. Exposure concentrations of air pollutants were further categorized based on work tasks (holding, lighting, and others) in prescribed burn shifts. Resting BP and HR and spot urine sample were measured/collected right before (pre-shift), immediately after (post-shift), and next morning (next-morning) of prescribed burn shifts (burn days) as well as regular work shifts (non-burn days). The levels of urinary oxidative biomarkers were determined using commercially available assay kits and urinary mutagenic potency was assessed using the Salmonella (Ames) mutagenicity assay. Linear mixed effect model was used to examine if the cross-shift changes (i.e. post-shift or next-morning vs. pre-shift) in BP and HR measures and the levels of urinary mutagenicity and oxidative biomarkers on burn days are significant. Difference in cross-shift changes in the hemodynamic parameters and urinary biomarkers were compared between burn and non-burn days using linear mixed effect model. Results: Wildland firefighters in the Midwest had personal PM2.5 and CO exposure concentrations that were about 2-7 times higher than the other regions. Twenty-eight personal CO exposure concentrations were ever above the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Recommended Exposure Limit (REL) Ceiling (200 ppm) for CO. Wildland firefighters who maintained the fires in the boundaries of burning areas had higher CO exposure concentrations compared to those who lighted fires (p
Author: George Anthony Broyles
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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This report addresses exposure to smoke from wildland and prescribed fires encountered by wildland firefighters. Smoke from vegetation as well as off-gasses from equipment such as chain saws, pumps, and drip torches are accounted for. Section II provides an overview of industrial hygiene science and techniques. Section III is a discussion and literature review of the components in wildland smoke, and section IV identifies the health concerns associated with smoke inhalation and a review of the current literature on exposure to inhalation irritants. Section V covers research that has been done on wildland firefighter smoke exposure. Section VI is an overview of the Wildland Firefighter Smoke Exposure Study, a project I have managed since 2009. This final section describes the objectives, methods, data collection, and analysis of the study. In its entirety, this report can be used to identify locations, times, and firefighter activities that have a high probability of causing high exposures as well as to identify management actions that can mitigate these exposures. Wildland firefighters work in a dynamic environment and are often faced with a variety of hazards from fire to fire and shift to shift. One of the most common, but often overlooked, hazards is exposure to potentially harmful levels of contaminants in wildland smoke. This may also be one of the least understood risks of wildland firefighting (Reisen et al., 2009). With a growing body of information regarding the potential health effects of vegetative smoke to respiratory and cardiovascular systems, it became apparent to United States Forest Service (USFS) fire management officials that more research needed to be done. The USFS realized the need for current, valid data to accurately assess the exposure wildland firefighters and personnel at fire camps experience during their work shift. Unlike municipal firefighters, wildland firefighters do not wear respiratory protection equipment such as a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Without SCBA, wildland firefighters are subject to exposure from a variety of inhalation irritants ranging from carbon monoxide, aldehydes, particulate matter, crystalline silica, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Some of the compounds in wildland fire smoke are known or suspected carcinogens. Health effects include short-term conditions such as headaches, fatigue, and nausea, while long-term health effects may include an increased risk of cardio-vascular disease. In order to assess the long-term risks associated with wildland firefighting, a comprehensive study of exposure was necessary. By identifying the conditions and activities that lead to high exposure, firefighters and fire managers can be better prepared to reduce these exposures. This study focused on wildland firefighters engaged in the suppression of wildland fires and working on prescribed fires primarily on federally-managed lands (forests and rangelands) throughout the United States. Study subjects included any firefighter employed by the following federal land management agencies: US Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as employees contracted by these federal agencies. Firefighters employed by various states are also included in the study, as well as those engaged in initial attack and project fires. Study subjects also included fire support personnel who work at incident command posts (ICPs) and spike camps. Fire suppression and management of prescribed fires involves many different activities. In order to successfully account for differences in exposure among firefighters, these activities were monitored and recorded during the data collection phase.