Federal firefighters will be encouraged to wear N95 respirators in major policy reversal
Although wildland firefighters are at high risk for smoke-related health issues, the U.S. Forest Service has been slow to offer protection. For decades, respirators weren’t allowed.
For the first time, federal firefighters will be encouraged to wear respirators to protect them against smoke-related hazards as they work to put out wildland blazes.
The Forest Service announced Wednesday that firefighters were authorized to use N95 respirators on the fire line, a major policy reversal as the agency for decades did not allow such protections, even as studies demonstrated the health harms of wildfire smoke.
“It’s long, long overdue,” said George Broyles, a longtime Forest Service firefighter who has researched wildfire exposure risks. “There’s no doubt that our men and women out there are at higher risk of cancer and heart disease.”
To Broyles, the policy change represents a long-awaited acknowledgment from the Forest Service that wildfire smoke is toxic and that the agency ought to find ways to reduce its workers’ risks.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/firefighters-wear-n95-respirators-policy-change-rcna351438Open linkView original on lemmy.world
... why...?
(I'm not looking for "because they dumb/corrupt/etc". Even in the US, until relatively recently, people had to justify their policies somehow, in a way that made at least approximate sense to SOMEone)
Maybe because N95s restrict airflow and firefighters are already doing exhausting work in heavy gear and high temperatures, plus possibly high altitude if they're in the woodlands. Even now they're making it optional so the firefighter can decide when the tradeoff is worth it, and they are saying a better-engineered solution is needed.