Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that wildland firefighter are at increased risk of heart disease and cancer due in part to exposure to smoke and particles. While we have gained much of our understanding of the relationship between ambient particulate matter (PM) and cardiac morbidity and mortality with both short- and long-term exposure, wildfire fighters are exposed to conventional ambient PM and to PM from biomass combustion. The composition of wildfire smoke differs from that of conventional ambient PM, but still represents a significant risk factor for adverse cardiovascular health effects. The objective of this paper is to use dosimetric parameter to improve the assessment estimate of risk to firefighters of heart disease-related and cancer-related mortality. We had previously hypothesized that PM2.5 health effects data could be a useful surrogate to estimate health risks from wildfire smoke exposure and that, after correction for the mass contribution of coarse PM, PM2.5 and the PM3.5 (or PM4) one could use PM2.5-derived health outcome data to estimate wildfire fighter health risks. Data obtained from working firefighters doing various tasks and PM exposures measured while the tasks were being performed had been previously acquired and risk estimates indicated that over a lifetime of exposures firefighters could be subject to increased health risks. Using ventilation measurements and a computational model of respiratory tract deposition we now have improved the assessment of dose and can better assess potential risks than had been done previously.<br/>

Using dosimetry to improve exposure and risk assessments for firefighters

ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting

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