Environmental health hazards and wildland firefighting: a qualitative analysis

Background

Despite growing attention to wildland firefighter safety, little is known about the full scope of environmental health hazards experienced occupationally. Previous research has documented exposures to carcinogens and combustion byproducts from smoke, dust, ash, engine exhaust, ignition devices, and location-specific chemical and radiological hazards. With growing attention to firefighters’ health outcomes, more research is needed on the environmental health hazards that they experience routinely and non-routinely. Qualitative research is well suited for exploratory investigations of environmental hazards. This study draws on a long-term ethnographic research project with federal wildland firefighters in Oregon to identify the environmental health hazards that wildland firefighters experience. I took detailed fieldnotes during participant observation working as a wildland firefighter with federal engine and handcrews. I also shadowed an incident management team, attended relevant meetings and trainings, and conducted 22 semi-structured interviews. I analyzed all data in NVivo, a computer program for coding qualitative data.

Results

Wildland firefighters were aware of commonly identified hazards of their work, including smoke exposure, heat, and “human factors” such as fatigue and diet. Firefighters experience additional hazards that are rarely discussed. Routine but generally unacknowledged hazards include non-vegetation smoke, dust, chemicals in gear and equipment, and fuels and exhaust. Incident- and location-specific hazards include food and water quality concerns, hazards in government housing, and military, radiation, industrial, and mining hazards. Addressing these hazards is challenging because of both practical and cultural barriers.

Conclusion

This exploratory cataloguing of the environmental health hazards faced by wildland firefighters is unlikely to be surprising to firefighters themselves, yet most of these hazards are underrecognized by land management agencies and researchers, and are incompletely mitigated in the work environment. Many of these hazards are (largely) invisible to those not working on the fireline or are only discussed in isolation, rather than as part of a cumulative or holistic understanding of firefighter health and safety. More attention by fire management agencies, fire leadership, and researchers is needed to the full range of hazards experienced by wildland firefighters.