Occupational Exposures

Firefighters encounter unique health risks while performing their occupational duties.The experiences of fire workers differ from those of the general public.  They are exposed to unusual concentrations of hazards and pollutants with atypical frequencies of exposure.  Physical fitness, work practices, meteorology, and fire characteristics are some sources of variation in health outcomes among individual firefighters.  Fortunately there are numerous safety programs and governmental regulations that minimize potential harmful consequences and protect the health of firefighters. 

Two occupational factors that make fire workers a unique subgroup of the population are proximity to fire events and dose-exposures to air pollutants.  The general public and fire workers have similar responses to forest fires, but their dose-exposure patterns differ.  Fire workers tend to be relatively physically fit.  Among the general public, adverse health effects appear in briefer time periods and at lower dosages (Brauer 1999; Ostermann and Brauer 2000).  Within the fire crew population, individual exposures differ according to the work practices of the particular firefighter (McMahon 1999), his/her location relative to the fire, and the amount of time he/she spends at that location.  At a prescribed burn, variability in exposure to pollutants occurs within a group according to each person’s particular duties.  For instance, the “lighters” and “sawyers” have higher benzene exposures due to the use of gasoline in their drip torches and chainsaws.  “Fireline holders” and “attack crew” have higher carbon monoxide exposures due to their proximity to the flames and denser smoke.

Shift duration influences health risks among firefighters.  Wildland firefighters typically work shifts of 8 to 12 hours or more.  In some situations, wildland firefighters are at or near a burn site over a period of days or weeks where, even during their off-shift time, they are exposed to biomass smoke (Materna et al. 1992).  In other situations, some portion of the work shift is spent in transit to and from the fire site and in other places some distance from the fire thus reducing the duration of a firefighter’s exposure to biomass smoke (Reinhardt et al. 2000).  Firefighters may be exposed to unsafe levels of pollutants for punctuated time periods, but not continuously for an entire work shift.

Variations in meteorological patterns, including wind speed and direction, can produce variable health impacts.  High wind speeds keep smoke in the breathing zone of firefighters increasing their exposure to pollutants in biomass smoke (McMahon 1999).  In these cases, firefighters are more likely to exceed occupational limits for the inhalation of carbon monoxide and respirable irritants such as particulate matter, acrolein, and formaldehyde (McMahon 1999).

Fire workers are exposed to variable levels of air pollutants and chemical toxins.  Some studies revealed that firefighters working in forested areas are exposed to toxins from herbicides that were applied to forests immediately prior to burning (Malilay 1999).  Other research demonstrated that the presence of herbicides from an application preceding a forest fire were not detectable in smoke (Malilay 1999).

Gherabegian et al. (1985) investigated noise exposures among several groups of fire workers including, fire line/camp crews, helipad crews, and ground crews at an airbase.  100% of helipad crew members, 100% of portable pump operators, and 30% of those hot shot crew members who used chain saws received noise doses during a 14-hour work shift that exceeded OSHA allowable limits. However, among the fire line work group as a whole, only 10% of the members received a noise dose level above 100% of the OSHA allowable limits.

Firefighter injuries and deaths may occur.