where there is smoke there is fire we
chase it we breathe it and sometimes we
choke on it
we all must deal with it it is a
constant in the firefighting environment
and knowing something about smoke is
necessary to making sound decisions
about how we allow it to affect us smoke
impacts our physiological and mental
well-being and that impacts how well we
are able to make risk management
decisions we'll take a look at the toxic
soup of chemicals associated with smoke
what those chemicals do to us
physiologically the who the where and
the wind factors that indicate high risk
we'll also consider what actions we can
take to reduce or avoid those effects
George Broyles is a fire and fuels
project leader for the Forest Service
technology and development program who
will provide an overview and discuss in
detail the various aspects of smoke as
we're exposed to smoke
we tend to lose our cognitive ability to
the ability to think clearly and act
decisively so safety first second of all
is the health consequences exposure to
smoke in a different irritants and
particulates in smoke can have both
short-term and potentially long-term
consequences to our health and finally
from our physical performance as we're
exposed to these particulate and smoke
our performance is going to degrade now
our firefighters go through a tremendous
amount of effort to be at the top of
their game and remain safe and so
exposure to smoke and compromise those
things so it's really important to think
about smoke is composed of numerous
chemicals and particulates at the head
of this toxic freight train is carbon
monoxide which is hitched on to the
aldehyde group nitrogen and sulfur
oxides particulates and crystalline
silica
while and smoke is really complex it
there's a lot a lot of chemicals a lot
of irritants and particulate in wildland
smoke and we could go on at length
describing them but I'm not a researcher
and I'm not an epidemiologist but we
know for a fact that there's a few that
are a specific concern for wildland
firefighters there's carbon monoxide the
aldehyde acrolein from aldehyde and then
particulate so those are really the
primary irritants of concern in wildland
smoke the particulates are really a
concern they're divine defined by
classes larger and smaller and we see
the larger particles out there and our
body can has defense mechanisms so we
can prevent the largest particles from
entering our body but it's a small
particles which also make up the largest
percent of the smoke that are the
concern because they can enter the
deepest recesses of our lungs when we
think about exposure to CO and to
particulates that folks may want to know
well what's what's the worst level or
what's the best level and so forth and
it also depends on what we call the dose
both how much is in the atmosphere and
how long that exposure lasts so you may
get a high exposure to Co for a short
period of time and feel that or you
could have a low exposure over an
extended period of time any effects
would be the same okay so let's talk
about carbon monoxide that's fairly
familiar and common to most folks and
it's going to be present in the smoke as
we breathe in carbon monoxide we have
some very definite physiological
responses our heart rates going to
increase our respiratory rate is going
to increase and so that carbon monoxide
comes into our blood blood stream and
displaces the oxygen so we have less
oxygen available to our brain okay we
need oxygen in order to think clearly
okay we need oxygen in order to perform
at our best if our muscles and our
brains are not getting oxygen we're not
going to be able to work and think at
our best in addition to that your
chemicals will cause headaches ie
irritation the particulates are going to
cause respiratory distress so all those
different reactions start to take place
in your body
at the same time as you're exposed to
them carbon monoxide concentration is
measured in parts per million on average
at certain concentrations there are
signs and symptoms you may feel at 70
parts per million you might feel a
shortness of breath on vigorous exertion
and a tightness around the forehead at
120 parts per million you might feel
shortness of breath with moderate
exertion and a headache with throbbing
temples at 220 parts per million you
might feel irritable easily fatigued
have diminished judgment dizziness and
dim vision at 350 to 500 and 20 parts
per million you could experience
confusion collapse and feigning on
exertion at 800 to 1200 parts per
million unconsciousness convulsion and
respiratory failure may happen with
death following if exposure is prolonged
the good news is that getting into clean
air will immediately start to combat
these effects carbon monoxide levels in
the blood can be halved with four to six
hours of recovery time in clean air
Jorge will discuss the short and long
term effects of smoke exposure and some
of the tell-tale signs you may
experience sure short term effects from
from multiple exposure incidents across
a season certainly if you're breathing a
lot of particulates it's going to
continue to irritate your respiratory
system your throat your nose and your
lungs right so that's going to make you
more susceptible to coughs the coals to
fatigue and potentially bronchitis you
know we always call camp crud and there
may be other factors involved certainly
but smoke exposure could be one of those
contributing factors to bronchitis and
and those types of ailments so long term
long term health consequences that
that's an issue that still under study
really and we have suspicions because of
work that's been done again with air
pollution with smokers and some third
world countries that folks that are
exposed to smoke but nothing definitive
is out there right now and that is
something that we're working very hard
at we know what the effects of smoke
exposure are to a certain level at what
symptoms to look for but smoke isn't the
only thing we deal with out there
consider what you know about the effects
of dehydration heat stress and heat
related illness fatigue stress and
distractions what are the effects of all
these factors piled on top of each other
do they exhibit synergistic effects when
combined nobody really knows so it is
important to do everything possible to
minimize each one to keep at the top of
our game
our mental state is impacted by smoke
exposure and so safety risk management
and being able to follow the fire orders
are also impacted I really believe that
there's a direct connection between
exposure to smoke and how our ability to
adhere to the fire orders can be
impacted and if we look at those fire
orders right we need to think clearly
and act decisively so under potentially
heavy exposures or a long-term exposure
it's going to be just more difficult to
do that exposure to carbon monoxide and
some of these other chemicals is going
to affect an impact the way we can think
and how well we're really thinking about
what's going on and what we're doing and
so throughout the course of a shift
we're constantly going through this risk
management process and we're assuming
that we're thinking clearly when we're
doing that but if our brain is being
deprived of oxygen and we're making risk
management decisions we may not even
know that their faulty decisions because
we're not thinking as clearly as we
think we ought to be there are times and
places that exposure to smoke is more
prevalent than others mop-up
direct line construction and holding the
top-three will also consider the effects
of smoke on the camp and ICP and the
negative effects of having the senior
leadership of the team exposed to the
effects of smoke
I'm a top 3 list of those times or our
firefighters exceed safe exposure levels
that are put out by OSHA and by NIOSH so
the top three the first is going to be
mop up when they're mopping up we know
that there's a high potential to exceed
safe exposure levels the other is direct
canline construction and then when
you're holding both our prescribed fires
and on wildland fires those are the
three top times that we find folks
getting exposed and exceeding safe
levels all right let's talk about camps
right there's a lot of work that goes on
those folks work under stressful
conditions they work real long hours -
and they're making some very very
important decisions sometimes we need to
make sure that the camp is located where
there's clean air or provide clean air
for those folks because whether it's low
levels of CO other chemicals are
certainly the particulates under net
version it has the ability to impair
their thinking process there are some
things we can do to reduce the effects
of smoke exposure there is also a simple
way to assess your exposure the good
news because we've talked about things
that can happen when you're exposed to
smoke the good news is that there's a
lot we can do about it there's a lot of
simple steps that we can take to reduce
our exposure so let's talk about mapo
right we know that this is a time where
folks get overexposed to co2 particulate
matter even to crystalline silica as we
start digging up that soil what I like
to tell folks is there's
there's no rewards for doing excessive
mop-up we want to make sure that we're
following those mop-up guidelines and we
don't need to exceed them all we really
need to do is keep that fire in check so
there's no rewards and there's no
rewards for going further in and chasing
smokes and stumps way down that line
there if you're using water use a light
spray and let that soak in a little bit
so that you don't disturb all that
particles all that dust and start
kicking it up with a heavy spray so
holding holding is another time again
where we see high exposures and folks
sometimes exceed those safe exposures
it's a job that has to be done we have
to do it but we need to think again
about this we certainly rotate folks out
our lighters and holders do we need to
stay and ride
on the line a lot of times we don't
sometimes folks are standing right on
that line in a heavy smoke and they
can't see what they're supposed to be
looking at anyway
so you might be able to move a little
distance away get in some cleaner air
you'll be able to see a little bit
better and you'll still be able to react
when you need to again folks that are
operating equipment pumps and engines
try to move at a distance from them
whenever you can don't park your
vehicles don't put your pumps if you can
right where the smoke is at try to try
to separate those two sources as much as
possible direct and line it that's tough
because we've got to get out there right
we want to put that line in so it's a
little more difficult but sometimes
those folks at the front of those lines
that are pounding at that line in there
may need to come back and go to the tail
end of that line okay or sometimes if
you can just kick back just for a minute
let that wind shift so that that smoke
is moving back into the fire instead of
right back across the line sometimes it
means giving up a little bit of ground
if we know that we're going to be in
there for a long time and our folks are
going to get hammered we made just need
to be prepared to give up a little bit
of line so how can you monitor how can
you know that there's the levels aren't
safe well I really believe the best way
to do that is to listen to your body
when your eyes start to tear up when
your throat is getting scratchy when
it's more difficult to breathe your
body's giving you a very clear message
that there's too much smoke in the
atmosphere that's your body trying to
protect itself as I mentioned your body
can has mechanisms to prevent there was
large particulates but those small
particulates that are irritating your
throat and are getting into your lungs
your body saying hey we need to think
and do something different here so when
that starts to happen
take a step back reevaluate the
situation
as with all things that degrade our
safety if you see something say
something
you just may see something that those
around you do not smoke adversely
affects our mental and physiological
well-being this has a direct bearing on
our ability to adhere to the fire orders
to being safe and preserving the
integrity of the risk management process
one of the problems of combating this is
that once you are impaired you are
unable to judge the level of your own
impairment so look out for each other
and be aware of the effects
you