Exposure of firefighters to toxic air contaminants

Gold, Avram R.; Burgess, William A.; Clougherty, Edward V.

doi:10.1080/0002889778507805

Cited by 75 publications

(26 citation statements)

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“…Woodsmoke exposures have been associated with respiratory infections, COPD, impaired lung function, and lung cancer (Naeher et al, 2006). Occupational exposures to wood smoke occur among occupations such as charcoal production workers (Kato et al, 2004), urban firefighters (Gold et al, 1978;Guidotti and Clough, 1992), and wildland firefighters (Reinhardt and Ottmar, 2004;Naeher et al, 2006). An estimated 70-80,000 US workers are involved in wildland firefighting annually (Harrison et al, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological monitoring of smoke exposure among wildland firefighters: A pilot study comparing urinary methoxyphenols with personal exposures to carbon monoxide, particular matter, and levoglucosan

Neitzel

Naeher

Paulsen

et al. 2008

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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Urinary methoxyphenols (MPs) have been proposed as biomarkers of woodsmoke exposure. However, few field studies have been undertaken to evaluate the relationship between woodsmoke exposure and urinary MP concentrations. We conducted a pilot study at the US Forest Service F Savannah River Site, in which carbon monoxide (CO), levoglucosan (LG), and particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) exposures were measured in wildland firefighters on prescribed burn days. Pre-and post-shift urine samples were collected from each subject, and cross-shift changes in creatinine-corrected urinary MP concentrations were calculated. Correlations between exposure measures and creatine-adjusted urinary MP concentrations were explored, and regression models were developed relating changes in urinary MP concentrations to measured exposure levels. Full-shift measurements were made on 13 firefighters over 20 work shifts in winter 2004 at the US Forest Service Savannah River site, a National Environmental Research Park. The average workshift length across the 20 measured shifts was 701 ± 95 min.LG and CO exposures were significantly correlated for samples where the filter measurement captured at least 60% of the work shift (16 samples), as well as for the smaller set of full-shift exposure samples (n ¼ 9). PM 2.5 and CO exposures were not significantly correlated, and LG and PM 2.5 exposures were only significantly correlated for samples representing at least 60% of the work shift. Creatinine-corrected urinary concentrations for 20 of the 22 MPs showed cross-shift increases, with 14 of these changes showing statistical significance. Individual and summed creatinine-adjusted guaiacol urinary MPs were highly associated with CO (and, to a lesser degree, LG) exposure levels, and random-effects regression models including CO and LG exposure levels explained up to 80% of the variance in cross-shift changes in summed creatinine-adjusted guaiacol urinary MP concentrations. Although limited by the small sample size, this pilot study demonstrates that urinary MP concentrations may be effective biomarkers of occupational exposure to wood smoke among wildland firefighters.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological monitoring of smoke exposure among wildland firefighters: A pilot study comparing urinary methoxyphenols with personal exposures to carbon monoxide, particular matter, and levoglucosan

Neitzel

Naeher

Paulsen

et al. 2008

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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“…A double or single thickness of cotton was mounted in an empty activated carbon cartridge. Two sample flow rates were tested, 20 lpm and 50 Ipm. Two chamber ventilation rates were tested, 325 lpm and 45 lpm.…”

Section: Materiais and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of toxic material penetrations for wildland respirator filters

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1994

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“…Investigators in this study reported potentially harmful levels of hydrogen chloride, sulfur dioxide, aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene), PAHs, aldehydes (formaldehyde), dioxins and furans, and isocyanates. Many more studies investigating fire fighter exposures during structural fires have been conducted [Gold et al 1978;Treitman et al 1980;Brandt-Rauf et al 1988;Jankovic et al 1991;Bolstad-Johnson et al 2000;Austin et al 2001]. High levels (in excess of STELs) of CO, formaldehyde, acrolein, hydrogen chloride, hydrogren cyanide, sulphuric acid, and hydrogen fluoride have been reported during knockdown of structural fires [Jankovic et al 1991].…”

Section: Isocyanatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of chemical and particle exposures during vehicle fire suppression training.

2010

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Exposure of firefighters to toxic air contaminants

Cited by 75 publications

References 0 publications

Biological monitoring of smoke exposure among wildland firefighters: A pilot study comparing urinary methoxyphenols with personal exposures to carbon monoxide, particular matter, and levoglucosan

Biological monitoring of smoke exposure among wildland firefighters: A pilot study comparing urinary methoxyphenols with personal exposures to carbon monoxide, particular matter, and levoglucosan

Determination of toxic material penetrations for wildland respirator filters

Evaluation of chemical and particle exposures during vehicle fire suppression training.

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