Concerned about the long-term health risks faced by wildland firefighters, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced a bill to make respirators available to those workers.
The Healthy Lungs for Heroes Act was introduced by Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff and Republican Utah Sen. John Curtis. If passed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal officials would have one year to develop a plan to make “commercially available appropriate respiratory personal protective equipment for wildland firefighters and supporting staff in settings in which smoke exposure surpasses covered permissible exposure limits.”
“Our wildland firefighters already face some of the most grueling, dangerous conditions imaginable,” said Sen. Curtis in a press release. “The least we can do is ensure access to materials that will protect them from the long-term health consequences of breathing toxic smoke. This bill ensures we bring common sense, science, and basic decency to how we equip our firefighters.”
The legislation is also co-sponsored by another bipartisan pair, Republican Tim Sheehy of Montana, and Democrat Alex Padilla of California.
Wildland firefighters typically face exposure to numerous carcinogens and other toxins on the fireline without any airway protections. Recently, officials announced that some N95 face masks would be made available for limited, voluntary use by firefighters.
“What people don't understand is you're working all day in the smoke and then you go back to fire camp, and it's in a valley and you're breathing smoke all night,” said Riva Duncan, vice president of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, which backs the bill. But Duncan still has concerns.
“We've been saying all along, ‘it's not going to be easy, it's not going to be inexpensive,’” she said. “And so this legislation is great to say, ‘hey, you know, you guys need to do this!’ But our fear is that it will never really happen without appropriate funding.”
“The job is still the job, and it still has a lot of inherent hazards,” Duncan added. “But I truly do believe there's still a lot more we can do to better serve the folks doing this dangerous work.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
