Wildland firefighters' respiratory health to be studied by UBC

After more than a decade of combating smoky wildfires in British Columbia, Kyler Gaulin says being on the front line has taken a toll on his body.

"It's a job we love ... but I notice, at the end of the season, my lungs are definitely not nearly as strong as at the start," the Pemberton, B.C., wildfire fighter said. 

"We're working in a lot of very fine dust, a lot of smoke, a lot of ash." 

In recent years devastating fires have burned in all corners of the province as thousands of firefighters inhale wildfire smoke with little protection. But new research aims to shed light on how those conditions are impacting firefighters' respiratory health. 

The B.C. Wildfire Services (BCWS), in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, is embarking on what they're considering "groundbreaking" research, looking at the respiratory health of wildland firefighters.

"We don't know a lot about how their vessels are reacting or not reacting to wildfire smoke," said Madden Brewster, postdoctoral research fellow at UBC's Okanagan campus.  

Researchers will track firefighters' cardiorespiratory systems over the next two years collecting data before, during and after the fire season — something Brewster says "hasn't really been done before."

Many use nothing except bandanas to cover their noses and mouths, according to occupational hygienist Drew Lichty.

He says wildfire smoke contains a hazardous mixture of gases, pollutants and pieces of debris that are invisible to the naked eye.

"[Some] refer to it as a toxic soup of chemicals."

Such microscopic particles — which can be narrower than a strand of human hair — can find their way into the lungs and bloodstream, Lichty says.

In June 2022, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified firefighting as a known human carcinogen, stating firefighters have a 14 per cent higher risk of dying from cancer than the general public. In Canada, more than 85 per cent of firefighter fatality claims are attributed to cancer.

Even amid mounting evidence that breathing smoke can cause deadly diseases, Lichty says right now, there's little to no research of the effects of wildfire smoke on the long-term health of wildland firefighters.

As the 2024 fire season begins, researchers are taking firefighters' blood samples and carrying out lung function tests to determine baseline measurements.