Wildland/WUI Respiratory Protection

NFPA Update: Chief Al Yanagisawa, LACoFD

Chief Yanagisawa will discuss Temporary Interim Amendments (TIAs) to NFPA 1984, Standard on Respirators for Wildland Firefighting and Wildland Urban Interface Operations (2022). 

Science Update: Firefighter Reproductive and Developmental Health Effects, Dr. Jeff Burgess

Dr. Burgess is a Professor at the University of Arizona, Zuckerman College of Public Health, and Director of the Firefighter Health Collaborative Research Program, where he leads the national Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study. He is one of the nation’s preeminent scientists working to protect the safety and health of firefighters through research, teaching, and policy development, in collaboration with firefighters.

Dr. Burgess will present evidence on reproductive health effects among firefighters and developmental health effects among the children of firefighters. As always, our focus will be on understanding the state of the science and taking action to prevent exposures, based on the lived experience of firefighters. Thanks to Dr. Burgess for participating in today’s meeting!

Cal/OSHA Update: Dr. Mike Wilson

Rulemaking question for the group: There are three potential “levels” of firefighting operations in the wildland/WUI:

• Type 1 engine: structure protection
• Type 3 engine: extended hose lays
• Crew Carrier: cutting line, holding, mop-up.

Do we require that firefighters be supplied with both a PAPR and APR for each level of operation, recognizing that smoke conditions for each level could require either a PAPR or an APR? Or do we require a PAPR for firefighters attached to a Type 1 engine but an APR for hand crews, for example?

NFPA and Wildland/WUI Respirator Specs 

As Jeff Peterson of NIOSH noted at our last meeting, the proposed Temporary Interim Amendments (TIAs) to NFPA 1984 will likely be adopted, which will improve the existing standard and could allow NIOSH to approve a PAPR or APR for use in the wildland or WUI. 

However, as Jeff pointed out, the changes to NFPA 1984 are a necessary step but are not sufficient to ensure that wildland/WUI APRs and PAPRs will perform as needed. Additional specifications will be needed beyond those listed in the amended NFPA 1984. 

Jeff listed several examples, including the following:

• Max weight and dimensions
• Breathing resistance
• Interoperability
• Carbon dioxide clearance rate
• Field of vision
• Hydration tube capabilities
• Fit requirements
• Packaging to protect against damage and vibration during transport.

These and other specs will likely be taken up by the NFPA under a revised standard, NFPA 1985, but this process is likely to take a few years. In the meantime, as several members of the group pointed out last week, firefighters will continue to be exposed to high levels of smoke during these incidents, without respirator protection.

Accordingly, Cal/OSHA anticipates including a set of performance requirements in our upcoming wildland/WUI respiratory protection rule that will exceed the specifications listed in NFPA 1984. APRs and PAPRs intended for wildland/WUI operations will need to meet these specifications to be used in California. 

We will be asking the Working Group to assist in developing the specifications that you believe must be included in Cal/OSHA’s rule to ensure that APRs and PAPRs used by firefighters will perform as needed. This will be a topic of meetings in 2024. 

Fire Service Research Oversight Board

Under bills supported by the California Legislature and signed by Governor Newsom, researchers at UCLA, UC Davis, San Jose State University, UCSF, the Public Health Institute, and University of Arizona have been awarded substantial grant funding to address gaps in firefighter safety and health, much of which focuses on the hazards and exposure conditions encountered during wildland and WUI firefighting.

This is an extraordinary opportunity. The outcome of these research projects will provide the scientific underpinning to ensure that firefighter safety and health is genuinely improved through respiratory protection and other actions during wildland/WUI firefighting. We need to be 100% confident that any respirator used by California firefighters will perform appropriately, and that firefighters can trust these devices under the extreme conditions often encountered during these incidents. This powerhouse of academic partners will accelerate and deepen the impact of our work, not only in solving the problem of respiratory protection but in identifying and closing other gaps in firefighter safety and health. 

As we embark on these essential research efforts, Cal/OSHA will be working with LA County Fire, Cal/FIRE, the USFS and other fire service members of the Working Group to draft a set of principles and requirements to ensure that all research will be conducted with transparency and accountability, based on the principles of community-based, participatory research. 

These principles will set the expectations for the conduct of research to ensure that fire service and Cal/OSHA representatives are fully informed and involved at each step of the research process. The point of this is to ensure that the fire service is engaged as participants in the process and can therefore be confident in the outcome of the research. The fire service can rest assured that only research meeting these high standards will be utilized by Cal/OSHA in the rulemaking process. 

To that end, Cal/OSHA will organize a Fire Service Research Oversight Board in 2024 that will consist of fire service leadership from the Working Group. We have asked Derek Urwin, PhD (LACoFD & UCLA) to lead the board, given his background as both a career firefighter and a professor with extensive community-based participatory research experience. The oversight board will serve as the eyes and ears of the fire service, and its members will report back to the Working Group on developments at each of the institutions where research is underway. Further updates will follow after the new year. 

See: Emergency Response Rulemaking | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)