Title: | Exposure to Particulate Matter and Estimation of Volatile Organic Compounds across Wildland Firefighter Job Tasks |
Author(s): | Navarro KM; West MR; O'Dell K; Sen P; Chen IC; Fischer EV; Hornbrook RS; Apel EC; Hills AJ; Jarnot A; DeMott P; Domitrovich JW; |
Address: | "Fire and Aviation Management, Pacific Southwest Region, USDA Forest Service, Clovis, California 93611, United States. Division of Field Studies and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1090 Tusculum Avenue, MS 13, Cincinnati, Ohio 45213, United States. National Technology and Development Program, USDA Forest Service, Missoula, Montana 59804, United States. Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, United States. Amentum Services, Germantown, Maryland 20876, United States. Atmospheric Chemistry Observations & Modeling Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado 80305, United States. Department of Chemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California 92617, United States" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1520-5851 (Electronic) 0013-936X (Print) 0013-936X (Linking) |
Abstract: | "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 measurements of PM(4) (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter =4 mum) on wildland firefighters from different crew types and while performing various fire suppression tasks on wildfires. Emission ratios of VOC (parts per billion; ppb): PM(1) (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter =1 mum; mg/m(3)) were calculated using data from a separate field study conducted in summer 2018, the Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption, and Nitrogen (WE-CAN) Campaign. These emission ratios were used to estimate wildland firefighter exposure to acrolein, benzene, and formaldehyde. Results of this field sampling campaign reported that exposure to PM(4) and VOC varied across wildland firefighter crew type and job task. Type 1 crews had greater exposures to both PM(4) and VOCs than type 2 or type 2 initial attack crews, and wildland firefighters performing direct suppression had statistically higher exposures than those performing staging and other tasks (mean differences = 0.82 and 0.75 mg/m(3); 95% confidence intervals = 0.38-1.26 and 0.41-1.08 mg/m(3), respectively). Of the 81 personal exposure samples collected, 19% of measured PM(4) exposures exceeded the recommended National Wildland Fire Coordinating Group occupational exposure limit (0.7 mg/m(3)). Wildland fire management should continue to find strategies to reduce smoke exposures for wildland firefighters" |
Keywords: | *Firefighters *Fires Humans *Occupational Exposure Particulate Matter/analysis Smoke/analysis *Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis firefighter hazardous air pollutants occupational exposure smoke wildfire; |
Notes: | "MedlineNavarro, Kathleen M West, Molly R O'Dell, Katelyn Sen, Paro Chen, I-Chen Fischer, Emily V Hornbrook, Rebecca S Apel, Eric C Hills, Alan J Jarnot, Alex DeMott, Paul Domitrovich, Joseph W eng CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHS/ Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2021/09/08 Environ Sci Technol. 2021 Sep 7; 55(17):11795-11804. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c00847. Epub 2021 Aug 17" |