PD Editorial: Tests on firefighters raise health alarms

Thousands of firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel became ill, and some died, after rushing into the rubble of the World Trade Center following the Sept., 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In the aftermath, Congress established a fund to pay health care costs and other compensation for first responders suffering cancer, breathing problems, trauma and other health issues related to 9/11. This summer, with new illnesses still surfacing, Congress promised lifetime care for those sickened by toxins at ground zero.

It was the right thing to do - and it’s a model California may need to explore as we learn more about the effects of extended exposure to smoke and toxins from massive wildfires.

As Staff Writer Mary Callahan reported recently, elevated levels of mercury and two synthetic chemicals have been detected in blood and urine samples collected from some of the firefighters who battled the Tubbs fire in October 2017.

Mercury is a neurotoxin and carcinogen, and the synthetic chemicals, known as perfluoroalkyls, are associated with increased cancer risk, immune disorders and hormone disruption in some studies, according to a federal registry.

The initial findings are sobering, but they’re largely preliminary. Researchers collected samples from 149 firefighters who were deployed to the Tubbs fire and compared the results to a group of firefighters who were not.

That isn’t enough evidence to draw direct conclusions about whether substances found in the firefighters’ systems reflect exposure during any particular fire, nor can any conclusions be drawn about implications for their health.

But they underscore the urgent need to learn more.

“We need to get back out there and do more of this work, and we need to do it better, and we need to get out there in real time combining biomonitoring with environmental sampling,” said Rachel Morello-Frosch, a UC Berkeley environmental health researcher.

Firefighters know their job is risky, but no one signs up to die prematurely.

“This is the career we chose,” Rancho Adobe Fire Capt. Jimmy Bernal said. “But it’s scary, because I have two kids, and I want to make sure I’m there for them.”

With 15 of the 20 largest fires in California history occurring since 2002, and climate scientists predicting more frequent and more intense fires in the state’s future, assessing health and safety threats is crucial.

Health concerns aren’t limited to firefighters. Other emergency personnel are at risk, and so are people who live and work in close proximity to a major fire - or, as Sonoma County residents witnessed last year, in the path of thick smoke from a fire hundreds of miles away.

But firefighters have the greatest exposure to smoke and other airborne toxins, especially those who spend extended periods on the front lines and camped out in burn zones.

Unlike their urban counterparts, wildland firefighters don’t wear bulky oxygen tanks, though they have adopted specialized cleaning techniques for clothing and equipment as well as other protocols to safeguard themselves.

As the Tubbs fire finally died down, people lined the streets to wave and applaud as firefighters returned home. But cheering isn’t enough. California needs to fund targeted research to identify any health threats from wildfires and take care of wildland firefighters.