Wildfire Today

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Wildfire Today

Tag: firefighter health

Dozens quarantined with strep throat at the Frye Fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , ,


EMT iconAs we reported earlier Sunday, on Saturday June 17 the Inciweb page for the Frye Fire in southwestern Arizona included this statement:

21 additional personnel with unknown illness were demobilized.

It turns out that the illness was strep throat. According to the Tucson News 45 people at the fire have been treated for the disease, also known as streptococcal pharyngitis.

This is being handled as an “incident within an incident”, with a separate Incident Commander and staff managing the situation, which allows the primary firefighting personnel to continue to perform their usual duties.

Below is an excerpt from the Tucson News, dated June 18:

…A medical group was created with doctors and nurses being brought to the Safford area to help with the strep throat outbreak.

[Information Officer Evan] Burks said antibiotics were administered and the affected fire personnel were quarantined, but will not be sent home.

“We have not released those resources. They’re still here. But we have separated them from the healthy firefighters,” Burks explained. “The antibiotics start working within 24 hours, and it looks like the firefighters are getting healthy pretty quickly here. Once they’re healthy, and good to go, they’ll be back to work [on the Frye Fire].”

Medical personnel have identified those with strep throat and they are taking “extra precautions to wash hands, and stay healthy,” Burks explained. “That’s always the number one priority, to keep our firefighters healthy. But there is always that risk out there.”

If the statement in the June 17 Inciweb report is true, that 21 personnel were released with an unknown illness, possibly strep throat, they could be unknowingly infecting their families or coworkers.

Strep throat affects about 3 million people in the U.S. each year. It is treatable by a medical professional and often requires lab tests or imaging. With treatment it is usually resolved within days or weeks. Common symptoms include sore throat, fever, and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. Rarely, complications can involve the heart or kidneys. Treatment is important to reduce complications.

As of Saturday night the Frye Fire had burned about 9,000 acres 8 miles southwest of Safford.

More information about the Frye Fire.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom.
Typos or errors, report them HERE.

Frye Fire threatens international observartory

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , ,

Above: A 3-D map of the perimeter of the Frye Fire at 11 p.m. MDT June 17, 2017. The base satellite image is from June, 2011 and appears to show in the foreground, east of the fire, a previously burned area.

(Originally published at 8 p.m. MDT June 18, 2017; updated at 11:25 p.m. MDT June 18, 2017.))

The Frye Fire grew close to the Mt. Graham International Observatory 62 miles northeast of Tucson, Arizona Sunday afternoon. The Southwest Geographic Area Coordination Center reported that in mid-afternoon the Type 3 Incident Management Team ordered 7 large (heavy) air tankers and one very large air tanker.

Large Binocular Telescope
Large Binocular Telescope, Mt. Graham.

Photos from the webcam at the observatory showed evidence of retardant drops near the facility, which is the home of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and other very expensive instruments.

As of Saturday night the fire had burned about 9,000 acres, but by Sunday afternoon we estimate that it has grown by at least another 2,000 acres.

Mt. Graham International Observatory fire
A webcam at the Mt. Graham International Observatory captured this photo at 6:53 p.m. MDT June 18, 2017.

Until late Saturday the fire had been burning mostly uphill on the very steep mountain slope 8 miles southwest of Safford, Arizona, but it has now slopped over onto the west side of the mountain range.

Critically low relative humidity and extreme high temperatures continue to contribute to increased fire activity. On Sunday the temperature was well over 100 at the lower elevations, and it is predicted to reach 110 to 112 each day through Friday June 23. The relative humidity will be 8 to 10 percent. It will be very breezy through Friday except for Wednesday.

photo smoke from the Frye Fire
A satellite photo of smoke from the Frye Fire in southeast Arizona, at 5:45 p.m. MDT, June 18, 2017.

The lightning-caused fire is not being completely suppressed according to the Team:

An indirect strategy is being taken to confine and contain the fire within the previous burn scar, to provide firefighter safety from the numerous snags, rough terrain and numerous downed logs. Fire personnel are assessing values at risk and options to limit high-severity fire effect to forest resources. Firefighters are monitoring fire behavior and growth and will take appropriate action if fire threatens any values.

Firefighting resources assigned to the fire on Saturday included 9 hand crews, 11 engines, 6 helicopters and a total of 306 personnel. Approximately $1.1 million has been spent to manage the fire.

The Team reported on June 17 that “21 additional personnel with unknown illness were demobilized.” UPDATE: 45 people were diagnosed with strep throat at the Frye Fire.

Government of Victoria proposes shakeup of fire services

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , ,

The Country Fire Authority would become totally volunteer.

Daniel Andrews, the Premier of the Australian state of Victoria, is proposing a major overhaul of the fire services organizations. If legislation to enact the changes is passed, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) will become a volunteer-only agency when its paid employees merge with what has been the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) to morph into the newly-created Fire Rescue Victoria.

The Premier said, “These challenges have been made clear through a number of reviews in recent years, including the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.”

The MFB provides firefighting, rescue, medical, and hazardous material incident response services to the metropolitan area of Melbourne. The CFA, which provides firefighting and emergency services to rural areas of Victoria, has been mostly volunteer, with about 35,000 volunteers and over 1,000 paid professionals.

The Premier intends to sweeten the deal by promising more than $100 million to support volunteer brigades with additional training, equipment and facilities.

In addition (and this is big) the government intends to recognize presumptive cancers that are diagnosed among volunteers.

Below is an excerpt from a summary of the proposed fire services reorganization:

This recognises the challenges that firefighters have faced in accessing compensation for cancer arising from their service. The scheme will deliver equal access to compensation for career and volunteer firefighters.

It will apply to firefighters who have developed cancer because of their service and have been diagnosed since 1 June 2016. Rules that require volunteer firefighters to have attended a specific number of fires are problematic, so the scheme will instead mirror the approach taken in Queensland, which has no specific incident requirements.

Skeptics think one of the reasons for the major revamping of the agencies is the hope that it “will end a controversial dispute with the United Firefighters Union, which has fought bitterly with the government, the CFA, the MFB and volunteers over new pay deals”, according to an article at 9news.com.au.

Study shows firefighting puts a strain on the heart

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 3 Comments on Study shows firefighting puts a strain on the heart

A new study conducted in Scotland found that fighting fires could increase the risk of a heart attack.

Wildland firefighter fatality data collected by the National Interagency Fire Center from 1990 to 2014 shows that most of the deaths in that period were caused by medical issues (primarily heart related). The top four categories which account for a total of 88 percent are, in decreasing order, medical issues, aircraft accidents, vehicle accidents, and entrapments. The numbers for those four are remarkably similar, ranging from 23 to 21 percent of the total.

The new UK study suggests that exposure to heat and the physical exertion required to control a fire can cause firefighter’s blood to clot and is putting firefighters at risk of heart attack.

Physical analysis of 19 firefighters in Scotland also found that tackling blazes put a strain on their hearts and worsened the functioning of their blood vessels.

Previous work has shown that firefighters have the highest risk of heart attack of all the emergency services.

The new study reported that a heart attack is the leading cause of death for on-duty firefighters and they tend to suffer cardiac arrests at a younger age than the general population.

Nationwide in the US, around 45% of on-duty deaths each year among firefighters are due heart issues, and researchers at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Edinburgh University believe the situation in the UK is comparable, although they did not know the cause.

On two occasions, at least one week apart, they either performed a mock rescue from a two-storey building for 20 minutes or undertook light duties, in the case of the control group, for 20 minutes.

The firefighters wore heart monitors that continuously assessed their heart rate and its electrical activity.

Blood samples were also taken before and after, including measurement of a protein called troponin that is released from the heart muscle when it is damaged.

Those taking part in the rescue had core body temperatures that rose by 1C and stayed that way for three or four hours.

There was also some weight loss among this group, while their blood vessels also failed to relax in response to medication.

Their blood became “stickier” and was more than 66% more likely to form potentially harmful clots than the blood of people in the control group.

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the BHF, said: “Firefighters routinely risk their lives to save members of the public. The least we can do is make sure we are protecting their hearts during the course of their duties.”

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Below is a representation of the wildland firefighter data from NIFC, compiled by Wildfire Today. 

Wildland firefighter fatalities 1990-2014

Colorado bill could improve health coverage for firefighters

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

EMTThe state of Colorado already has a law that establishes a list of presumptive illnesses for firefighters, covering cancer of the brain, skin, digestive system, hematological system, and genitourinary system.

New legislation introduced on March 10, SB 17-214 would allow an employer to participate in a voluntary firefighter cancer benefits program as a multiple employer health trust to provide benefits to firefighters by paying contributions into the established trust. It would establish a schedule of minimum payments, or award levels, ranging from Level Zero ($100 to $2,000) up to Level Ten ($225,000). The diseases covered would be the same five as in the existing law (above).

Full time firefighters with 5 years of service would be covered as well as volunteers with 10 years.

It is sponsored by three Democrats and one Republican. No action has been taken on the bill since it was introduced nine days ago, and it is possible that the provisions could change if and when it passes.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bean.
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Editorial: Montana legislature fails to pass firefighter health bill

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 4 Comments on Editorial: Montana legislature fails to pass firefighter health bill

The following editorial was written by Dick Mangan.

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As someone who has been involved in wildland fire since the mid-1960s, and who is currently on the Missoula Rural Fire Board of Trustees, I’m really disgusted with the Republicans on the House Business and Labor Committee who voted to “table” the vote on SB 72 which would give Workers Comp coverage to firefighters who develop job-related cancer. For those of you unfamiliar with legislative terms, to “table” a Bill can be translated into “I don’t have the intestinal fortitude (Guts) to actually vote up or down on this issue, so I’ll vote to do nothing”.

Several of these Legislators offered meaningless “feel good” comments about firefighters, like Rep. Steve Gunderson of Libby who said “I take my hat off to firefighters” and Bigfork Rep Mark Noland who called firefighters “courageous….. so grateful for your service.” But then Noland went on to say “but they do know. They do enter this with their eyes open. This is what they chose.”

So, soldiers and police officers die in the line of duty, and that’s OK too? They know the risks, and make the choice, just like firefighters. Maybe we should extend that logic to State Legislators: JFK, RFK, George Wallace, Ronald Reagan and Gabby Giffords were politicians killed and/or wounded doing their jobs. So, if a Montana legislator should suffer a similar fate, should we just tell them and their families that “they entered with their eyes open”?

I must pause this blast to give credit to Republican Senator Pat Connell of Hamilton who introduced the Bill in the Senate (where it passed) and to Rep Sue Vinton of Billings, the only Republican House member to vote in its favor.

Firefighters, structural and wildland, volunteer and paid, frequently put their lives on the line to protect lives and property. Too bad some of our State Legislators can’t walk a mile in their fire boots.

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Dick Mangan retired from the U.S. Forest Service Technology & Development Center in Missoula, Montana in 2000 with more than 30 years wildfire experience. He is a past President of the International Association of Wildland Fire.