Wildfire Today

British Columbia initiates wildland firefighter health research

Bill GabbertNovember 21, 2019November 22, 2019UncategorizedBritish Columbia, Canada, firefighter health, research, smoke

Above: Firefighters in a smoky environment on the White Tail Fire, March 8, 2019, Black Hills National Forest.

Information from the British Columbia Wildfire Service:

VICTORIA – The BC Wildfire Service has provided $305,000 to help fund two research projects looking into the health and wellness of firefighters and associated personnel. The University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Alberta are conducting these studies to learn more about how firefighting activities affect the health of fire crews.

“Our firefighters have worked hard on the front lines to keep British Columbians safe during difficult and record-setting wildfire seasons,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “These studies will help us support their long-term health and well-being.”

Research by the University of Northern British Columbia is led by Chelsea Pelletier, PhD, who is an assistant professor with the School of Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia.

A scoping review will:

Look holistically at the existing body of research and knowledge about wildland firefighter health and wellness (including its physical, mental and emotional dimensions) by conducting a global scan of the scientific literature;
Identify any modifications (based on the scientific literature and work done by wildfire management agencies elsewhere) that could be implemented in the short term to reduce potential health impacts; and
Identify any gaps in the work-related health knowledge of wildland firefighters and associated personnel.

The outcomes of this project and other information will help the BC Wildfire Service establish a long-term research strategy for worker health. This research is expected to be completed in the summer of 2020.

Research by the University of Alberta is led by Nicola Cherry, MD, PhD, who is the tripartite chair of occupational health with the Division of Preventive Medicine at the University of Alberta.

It is also supported by the Alberta government and aims to:

Examine the nature and concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the air that firefighters breathe and accumulate on their skin (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a suite of organic compounds produced when organic material burns, some of which can be hazardous to human health);
Explore the practicality and effectiveness of firefighters using respiratory protective equipment; and
Investigate whether wildland firefighters have more chronic lung disease than other people of the same age, gender and geographic location.

So far, about 50 BC Wildfire Service firefighters have taken part in this study. Alberta firefighters are also participating. A progress report on the initial phase of this project should be released in March 2020.

Remnants of tropical storm pause fire season in Southern California

Bill GabbertNovember 21, 2019November 22, 2019UncategorizedCalifornia, weather2 Comments

Nine weather stations in San Diego County recorded more than 4 inches of precipitation

Above: Mt. Laguna Observatory in Eastern San Diego County at 8 a.m. PST November 21, 2019. HPWREN.

On Tuesday the remnants of tropical storm Raymond hit Southern California and the next day merged with a cold storm that formed in the Gulf of Alaska. The result was two waves of rain, lightning, wind, and in the higher elevations, snow.

Nine weather stations in San Diego County recorded more than 4 inches of precipitation. The highest total was at Lake Henshaw with 4.68 inches. Some of the moisture became snow at Mount Laguna 6,100 feet above sea level.

Precipitation recorded Southern California — Highest totals of precipitation recorded in Southern California during the 48-hour time period ending at 8 a.m. PST Nov. 21, 2019. NWS.

Many other locations in San Diego County received more than an inch, but farther north Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles Counties had less.

This of course will pause the fire season in these areas and may be the season-ending weather event in the locations that were dumped on with multiple inches of precipitation.

Meanwhile in Northern California it was dry and very windy Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday in the Sacramento area the Hot Dry Windy Index is predicted to be above the 95th percentile again but there is a chance of rain in the area the next day, November 26.

Hot Dry Windy Index Sacramento weather wildfires — Hot Dry Windy Index for the area 25 miles west of Sacramento, CA. Generated November 21, 2019.

After the Tubbs Fire, homes in California town are being rebuilt without strong building codes

Bill GabbertNovember 19, 2019November 22, 2019UncategorizedCalifornia, defensible space, fire codes, FireWise, home ignition zone6 Comments

Above: Homes being rebuilt in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa. Screenshot from Sacramento Bee video.

In Santa Rosa, California the 1,200 homes that were destroyed in the 2017 Tubbs Fire are being rebuilt without a requirement that they adhere to the stricter building codes required in rural areas of California that would make them more resistant to being consumed in the next wildfire.

From the Sacramento Bee:

…Coffey Park [neighborhood] is rebuilding quickly: The community organization Coffey Strong says more than half of the 1,200 homes that burned down in 2017 are finished, and hundreds more are under construction.

But some wildfire experts wonder if Coffey Park isn’t courting danger by ignoring a state building code designed for wildfire-prone areas.

“They’re setting themselves up for the next disaster,” said Chris Dicus, a wildfire expert at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “I was disappointed to see they didn’t build up to code.”

Coffey Park residents seem resigned to the risk of another fire. They consider it part of the cost of living in a neighborhood they love. When asked about building codes, they say yes, another monster like the Tubbs Fire would be devastating — but no amount of fire-resistant roofing would likely change that.

“If it’s going to burn down, it’s going to burn down,” said Charlie Catlett, a retired physician who moved back home a little more than a week ago, after the latest evacuations were over.

Chapter 7A of the California Building Code designed for the state’s areas at high risk from wildfire can be optionally adopted by cities, but is mandatory in rural areas designated by CAL FIRE as being at high risk of wildfires. It lays out standards for roofs, exterior walls, vents in exterior walls and attics, windows, exterior doors, decking, and outbuildings.

Analysts studying the aftermath of the Camp Fire which destroyed much of Paradise, California found that homes built to fire-safe standards had a much higher survival rate than those that were not. Beginning in 2008 new construction in the city was required to follow Chapter 7A. Fifty-one percent of the homes built under that standard survived, while only eighteen percent built before 2008 did.

Headwaters Economics found that the cost of building a fire-resistant home is about the same as a standard home.

Adopting sensible building codes is very important, but a holistic approach is required to keep from repeating wildfire disasters:

Home spacing/ lot size
Envelope of the structure itself
Home ignition zone
Community infrastructure and planning
Wildland-urban interface

In April, 2019, we covered these five categories in more detail.

Report released on the entrapment of firefighter and two civilians on Kincade Fire

Bill GabbertNovember 18, 2019November 24, 2020Wildfireburnover, California, entrapment, fire shelter, Kincade Fire, report6 Comments

The three people shared one fire shelter as the fire burned around them

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, CAL FIRE, has released a Green Sheet, or preliminary report, on the October 25, 2019 entrapment of one firefighter and two civilians. It occurred on the Kincade fire northeast of Geyserville, California about 43 hours after the fire started.

In mid-afternoon a Division Supervisor was scouting his division and searching for firefighters who he had been told were not wearing their Nomex wildland fire jackets. He turned his SUV off Pine Flat Road onto Circle 8 Lane, an unpaved road that reaches a dead end 1.5 air miles from Pine Flat Road.

map Kincade Fire entrapment deployment — 3-D map showing the approximate location of the entrapment of three people on the Kincade Fire, October 25, 2019.

Later, seeing that the fire intensity had increased and crossed the road behind him, he realized that he was in imminent danger and decided to ride it out near an old cabin. A dozer operator had already cleared a line around the structure as as well as a line from the road downhill to the drainage.

Below is an excerpt from the Green Sheet as well as more maps, photos, and a video. The Division Supervisor is identified as “DIVS1”.

Continue reading “Report released on the entrapment of firefighter and two civilians on Kincade Fire”

National Firefighter Registry releases time line toward implementation

Bill GabbertNovember 17, 2019November 22, 2019Uncategorizedcancer registry, firefighter health, smoke & health2 Comments

UPDATED at 10:45 a.m. MDT Nov. 21, 2019

On November 21 the National Firefighter Registry that is being created by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released information about their accomplishments. We are updating this article originally published November 17, 2019 to include the new data.

Milestones from this Quarter
Much of the work this quarter focused on creating the NFR protocol, filling staffing needs, and meeting with firefighters and stakeholders about the NFR. Some of our key milestones for this quarter include:

Reviewed Federal Register comments made on the NFR’s Request for Information (RFI). Thank you to those that were able to provide feedback. These comments are very helpful in guiding the development of the NFR.
Began development of the protocol, informed consent document, and enrollment questionnaire.
Started gathering details on record keeping systems at fire departments to better understand what data are available and potential mechanisms for importing the data.
Made progress on developing requirements for the registration web portal.
Held discussions with representatives from select state cancer registries and related organizations to better understand cancer surveillance on a national level.
Hired a new health scientist, Andrea Wilkinson, formerly of the First Responder Health & Safety Laboratory at Skidmore College.
Created the NFR webpage https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/firefighters/registry.html
Began formation of the NFR Advisory Committee. This committee will include at least 10 members with various backgrounds, expertise, and experience related to firefighter health and research.

Next Steps

Finalize protocol and consent form
Begin Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance process for enrollment questionnaire
Hire Health Communications Specialist
Continue conversations with stakeholders and obtain their support
Continue conversations with select fire departments throughout the country.

(Originally published at 9:54 a.m. MDT Nov. 17, 2019)

The National Firefighter Registry, originally called the Firefighter Cancer Registry in the authorizing legislation, has released very broad time-based goals for implementing a system which hopefully can identify any relationships between cancer and occupational exposure to toxicants.

Earlier this year the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asked firefighters for input on how to maximize participation in the Registry (perhaps working on the first goal in the timeline chart). That comment period ended May 28, 2019.

From the time line, it appears that NIOSH hopes to begin enrolling firefighters sometime between 2019 and 2022.

firefighters smoke — Firefighters in a smoky environment on the White Tail Fire, March 8, 2019, Black Hills National Forest.

Previous studies, including one completed by NIOSH in 2014, have highlighted firefighters’ increased risk for certain cancers compared to the general population. However few previous studies have collected data about wildland firefighters, volunteer firefighters, or sufficient numbers of female and minority firefighters in order to draw conclusions regarding their risk of cancer.

In one study that collected data from wildland firefighters in the field, a group of researchers concluded that firefighters’ exposure to smoke can increase the risk of mortality from lung cancer, ischemic heart disease, and cardiovascular disease by 22 to 39 percent. The project only looked at the wildland fire environment, and was not a long term study of firefighters’ health.

The ultimate goal of the Registry is to better understand the link between workplace exposures and cancer among firefighters. The Registry will include all U.S. firefighters, not just those with a cancer diagnosis. The Registry also has the potential to provide a better understanding of cancer risk among subgroups such as women, minorities, and volunteers, and among sub-specialties of the fire service like instructors, wildland firefighters, and arson investigators.

From the Registry information, CDC/NIOSH will estimate an overall rate of cancer for firefighters. They might find certain groups of firefighters are at a higher risk of cancer than others based on level of exposure, geography, gender, or other factors. They may also find that certain protective measures are associated with a reduced risk for cancer, which could provide additional evidence and support for specific control interventions.

The Registry will be completely voluntary, and no one can force a person to join.

All active and retired as well as volunteer, paid-on-call, and career firefighters will be encouraged to join the Registry, regardless of their current health status.

CDC/NIOSH promises that they will always maintain participants’ privacy and will never share personal information with an outside organization including fire departments, unions, or other researchers without permission of the individual.

Missoula science lab assists firefighters

Bill GabbertNovember 17, 2019November 17, 2019UncategorizedMontana, research

Above: Screenshot from the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab presentation. USFS.

The U.S. Forest Service has produced a fancy “story map” about the science being conducted at the Fire Sciences Lab in Missoula, Montana. I have toured the facility but was not aware of the breadth of the work now being conducted in the Wind Tunnel & Combustion Chamber, Soils Lab, Chemistry & Emissions Lab, Ecophysiology Lab, Tree Ring Lab, and Fuels Lab.

The presentation, which only takes a few minutes to scroll through, is mostly photos with brief descriptions of the work going on in the various departments. With science under attack in recent years, it is heart warming to know that some federal employees in Missoula have our backs.

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