With no respirators available to firefighters for filtering out chemicals released by wildfires, House Democrats are pushing the U.S. Forest Service to better protect wildland crews from the toxic smoke they encounter on the job.
Cancer is the number one line-of-duty cause of death among firefighters, with pulmonary and cardiac issues close behind. The toxic smoke inhaled by firefighters is to blame. Although other types of fire-fighting crews, including municipal departments, use respirators attached to oxygen tanks for protection, no similar technology has been developed for wildland firefighters who work for the U.S. Forest Service.
Until this month, the federal agency discouraged workers from wearing N95 masks, which can filter out particulate matter in smoke but not vapors or gases, arguing that they are too cumbersome for the arduous work required on the fire line.
House Democrats want the Fire Service to do more. Members of the Natural Resources Committee have pressed the issue in a letter to the agency and during a budget hearing two weeks ago. More recently, they hosted wildland firefighters and cancer researchers in a briefing on Thursday to underscore how smoke endangers firefighters.
