Wildland firefighters (WLFFs) face significant brain health risks due to prolonged exposure to smoke, extreme heat, dehydration, physical exertion and irregular sleep patterns. Here, the literature is presented as a narrative review on studies that inform our knowledge on WLFF brain health.
The James M. Inhofe National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 established that certain illnesses and diseases are to be deemed as proximately caused by employment in federal fire protection activities. However, cancers affecting female wildland firefighters were not included on this list and are recommended for further evaluation.
Background
Barriers are the landscape features that firefighters leverage to stop wildfire spread. In the United States, decision-makers discuss barrier availability in a framework called the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS).
Aims
This study analyzes WFDSS text from 6630 large wildfires and examines the barriers identified.
Background
Wildland firefighting requires exposure to long shifts and poor sleep, which may pose a risk to worker safety due to impaired cognitive function.
Aims
We investigated the associations between sleep, shift characteristics, and cognitive function in wildland firefighters.
Methods
Background: Wildfire policy has evolved rapidly over the past three decades, necessitating repeated shifts in management and communication strategies for US land management agencies. One growing focus considers the use of “other than full suppression” (OTFS) strategies, where managers use natural ignitions to achieve management objectives when conditions allow.
Wildfire activity in the western United States has been on the rise since the mid-1980s, with longer, higher-risk fire seasons projected for the future. Prescribed burning mitigates the risk of extreme wildfire events, but such treatments are currently underutilized. Fire managers have cited lack of firefighter availability as a key barrier to prescribed burning.
Previous analyses identified large-scale climatic patterns contributing to greater fuel aridity as drivers of recent dramatic increases in wildfire activity throughout California. This study revisits an approach to investigate more local fire weather patterns in the northern Sierra Nevada; a region within California that has experienced exceptionally high wildfire activity recently.
Reports from western U.S. firefighters that nighttime fire activity has been increasing during the spans of many of their careers have recently been confirmed by satellite measurements over the 2003–20 period.
Wildfires exhibit extensive nonlinear characteristics and threshold effects in response to environmental changes. However, how threshold effects affect wildfire responses and their future changes remains unclear.
Wildland firefighting is a niche specialization in the fire service - inherently dangerous with unique risks. Over the past decade, fatalities amongst all firefighters have decreased; however, wildland firefighter fatalities have increased. This subject has only been described in the grey literature, and a paucity of medical literature exists.