Wildland firefighters face serious long-term health risks, and new federal legislation seeks to address them.
The bill, known as the Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act, was recently introduced in both chambers of Congress and enjoys bipartisan support.
If passed, it would establish a pilot program to aid the development of a wildland respirator, allow for paid time to decontaminate fire gear and improve the workers' compensation process for firefighters who are injured or fall ill, among other reforms, according to a summary of the bill.
“As a pulmonologist and critical care physician, I’ve cared for firefighters with acute smoke and burn injuries, as well as chronic lung disease and cancer caused by repeated smoke exposure,” Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., said in a release. “It is devastating, and it is preventable. Our wildland firefighters deserve more than our gratitude—they deserve a government that protects them as fiercely as they protect all of us.”
“Our bill tackles these problems head-on, leveraging expertise from federal agencies, medical experts, and wildland firefighters on the ground to test new respiratory technologies, reduce toxic exposures, and implement strong safety standards,” co-sponsor Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., said in a separate release.
Sen. John Curtis of Utah is the other Republican co-sponsor of the Senate version.
Jesse Hamner, a squad boss on a Utah-based federal wildfire crew, told the Mountain West News Bureau that “it's great that this is coming to the forefront.”
“But why is it coming to the forefront?” she added. “It's coming to the forefront because the problems are so severe that we can't ignore them anymore.”
In a letter she wrote to Congress urging support of the reform, Hamner detailed the regular injuries and dangerous exposures she and her colleagues face.
“I have personally experienced sickness related to smoke inhalation, including smoke exposure so severe that it almost caused vomiting,” she wrote. “I have seen peers vomit from smoke inhalation. I have slept alongside my friends in a socked-in valley full of smoke, waking up with eyes swollen and throats scratchy and hurting, expected to get up and power through to get the job done regardless. The lack of research and innovation surrounding respiratory protection is nothing short of embarrassing.”
With 18 fireline deaths logged so far this year and an average of 15.5 over the last decade, Hamner said wildfire is a profession of immediate danger, and one where researchers are learning more about health risks that can take years to manifest.
“We could die today,” she said in an interview. “But how much smoke have I sucked in this year? We're getting toward prescribed burn season; how much gas and diesel has soaked into my skin? How many fumes am I breathing in? You can survive today – maybe – and then you still might suffer the long-term health effects later on.”
She was on the Iron Fire this season, where she and other firefighters may have been exposed to toxic heavy metals, including lead, mercury and arsenic.
Afterwards, she wrote in her letter, she received paperwork that advised her of the exposures, but which “notably lacked both options for clinical testing and any direction on how to decontaminate afterward beyond the standard measures we already take.”
“I'm sick of just throwing my money at GoFundMes to help a family because their primary provider died over something that we could have seen coming a mile away,” she told the Bureau.
While deeply concerned about the workplace safety situation it seeks to address, Hamner is hopeful of the legislation’s prospects.
“People are noticing; they're paying attention,” she said. “And I think that it has the chance to pull together both sides of the political spectrum.”
You can read the full text of the bill here.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
