i
Exposure to Particulate Matter and Estimation of Volatile Organic Compounds Across Wildland Firefighter Job Tasks
-
9 07 2021
-
-
Source: Environ Sci Technol. 55(17):11795-11804
[PDF-549.20 KB]
Details:
-
Alternative Title:Environ Sci Technol
-
Personal Author:
-
Description: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| (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤4 μm) 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| (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤1 μm; mg/m|) 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| and VOC varied across wildland firefighter crew type and job task. Type 1 crews had greater exposures to both PM| 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|; 95% confidence intervals = 0.38-1.26 and 0.41-1.08 mg/m|, respectively). Of the 81 personal exposure samples collected, 19% of measured PM| exposures exceeded the recommended National Wildland Fire Coordinating Group occupational exposure limit (0.7 mg/m|). Wildland fire management should continue to find strategies to reduce smoke exposures for wildland firefighters.
-
Subjects:
-
Keywords:
-
Source:
-
Pubmed ID:34488352
-
Pubmed Central ID:PMC8978153
-
Document Type:
-
Funding:
-
Volume:55
-
Issue:17
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
